Nilmar back in action

Posted Thursday, September 17, 2009 by PA

Villarreal coach Ernesto Valverde looks set to welcome back club record signing Nilmar for Thursday's Europa League encounter with Levski Sofia at El Madrigal.

Nilmar, who joined the Yellow Submarine for a free reported to be in the region of 11million euros this summer, missed last weekend's league game against Real Mallorca with an ankle problem, but he now seems ready to return.

The Brazil international trained with his team-mates yesterday and he said afterwards: "I'm good, I trained normally and I will be able to play on Thursday. Luckily it was only a hard knock to the ankle."

Nilmar picked up the injury while on international duty in the recent World Cup qualifier against Chile, where the 25-year-old hitman netted a hat-trick in a 4-2 win.

"To score three goals with your national team is always special. I'm very happy for that and now I only hope to score goals with Villarreal. I hope to be able to play at El Madrigal for the first time on Thursday and score my first (competitive) goal," he added.

Villarreal played in the Champions League last season, reaching the quarter-finals, but they are in the new Europa League this time around after only managing to finish in fifth spot in La Liga.

Valverde's men have been drawn against Lazio, Salzburg and Levski Sofia in Group G, with their first match pitting them against the Bulgarian champions.

"It's an important competition in which all the team has to be strong because I'm sure it's going to be very demanding," added Nilmar on his club's website.

"We have a chance of going far because we have a great team and we even hope to be able to win the final."

Levski, who missed the chance to be playing in the Champions League group stage this week after being knocked out by Debrecen in the play-offs, travel to Villarreal looking to break a dismal run of results on Spanish soil which has seen them lose all six of their previous visits, conceding 18 goals and scoring just one in the process.

Ratko Dostanic's side will also need to overcome a recent domestic setback after suffering the first defeat of their league season at the weekend, going down 2-1 at home to Lokomotiv Sofia.

That left Levski in fifth spot in the standings, with nine points from the four games they have played so far.