Villarreal defender Diego Godin believes the benefits of winning the key Europa League clash against Levski Sofia could be two-fold for the Yellow Submarine, who travel to Bulgaria looking to improve a dismal away record this season.
Not only could a three-point haul against the Group G stragglers possibly put Villarreal through to the last 32, but Godin also feels it could provide a major morale boost for their Primera Division campaign.
Villarreal had looked to be staging an excellent recovery from their poor start to the season, but they have now lost two of their last three league games and Saturday's 1-0 loss to Sporting Gijon left Ernesto Valverde's side in 12th spot.
"It's an important week full of tension after slipping up in Gijon," said Godin, whose side have not won away from their El Madrigal home since beating NAC Breda in the Europa League play-offs back in August.
"We are going (to Sofia) with the burden of knowing how hard we are finding it to win games away from home, and that we need to do it. Now is the time to turn the page on this aspect and try to win away to change the image of the team. As well as that, to win in Europe would help us recover our morale and level of play."
Villarreal are currently second in Group G, six points behind Salzburg and level on six points with Lazio, who they boast the better head-to-head record against.
Levski currently prop up the standings with no points and no goals, and with Lazio playing the Bulgarians in their final match, Villarreal know how important a win is on Wednesday.
Veteran winger Robert Pires said: "Now we know we cannot fail, because doing so could see us all but knocked out. As they say about this sort of match, this is a 'final'.
"The feelings are not the best after the last match away from home, but we must accept our responsibilities and face this game with the maximum focus if we want to continue alive in this competition."
Despite their miserable record in Group G, Levski still have a mathematical chance of progressing through to the last 32.
To do that they must win their final two games and hope that Salzburg do likewise in their two matches.
