Madrid, March 11 (IANS): Villarreal and defending champions Sevilla are gearing up for an all-Spanish affair in the last 16 of the Europa League as both teams face the reality of a tie that neither of them wanted.

It was a stroke of bad luck when they, the only two Spanish teams left in the competition, found themselves drawn to face each other. It's bad luck because the big attraction of playing in Europe is facing a team from another country, reports Xinhua.

The draw also means there will only be one Spanish side in the quarter-finals and also as coincidence would have it, the duo will meet each other in the La Liga on March 22, meaning they play each other three times in just 10 days.

Most professional footballers say they would much rather avoid facing the same rival so often in so little time as little disagreements become magnified over time, tension mounts and rivalries become more intense.

Villarreal will be without midfielder Pina who is suspended for the first leg, which will be played in Villarreal's el Madrigal Stadium.

Central defender Mateo Musacchio admits the first game is a final.

"It is the game of the year for us and we are obliged to get a good result. But Sevilla are a great rival, we have to be intense and to concentrate on our game for the full 90 minutes," said the defender.

Villarreal go into the game on the back of the disappointment of their fourth semi-final defeat when they were knocked out of the King's Cup by Barcelona a week ago, while they sit just behind fifth placed Sevilla in the Spanish League.

Both sides enjoyed good league wins at the weekend with Villarreal thumping Celta 4-1, while Sevilla claimed a thrilling 4-3 victory away to Deportivo la Coruna.

Sevilla travel to Villarreal as the reigning Europa League champions and will be optimistic of scoring an away goal which would make their task much easier next week.

But in European ties between teams from the same country, that is not always as valuable as against rivals from a different league.