Nigeria winger Samuel Chukwueze will play no part in Villarreal's La Liga outing against Levante on Saturday and remains a doubt for the Champions League outing away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
The Yellow Submarine will be hoping to get maximum points away to Ciudad Stadium in Valencia to boost their chances of finishing in the European competitions places.
However, they will have to engage in this weekend's action without one of their influential players.
"He [[Chukwueze] will not be available [to play Levante] due to a small muscle injury," Villarreal manager Unai Emery revealed in his pre-match interview.
The 22-year-old Chukwueze suffered an injury against Ghana on March 25 while playing for the Super Eagles in the first leg of the 2022 World Cup qualifier, a match that eventually ended without a goal.
He was replaced after 60 minutes, with Watford attacker Emmanuel Dennis taking his place.
The Nigeria technical bench had hoped the Villarreal man will recover in time to be involved in the second leg in Abuja, Nigeria four days later but it was not the case.
Chukwueze went on to miss the game, which ended 1-1 and Ghana sealed their place in the World Cup to be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
Villarreal have been inconsistent away in the Spanish top-tier and Emery conceded it is a concern that should be addressed.
"That is our challenge to always improve. I am very demanding and self-critical with myself," the former Arsenal manager continued.
"We have made a reflection that when the best version of the team does not appear, the level falls. It is a great group and a team that shows its face, but away from home, it's costing us.
"We have two trajectories, at the beginning and now, but it's true that the team has dropped points in games away that punish us. We want to be a team like the one in the Champions League away, we want to be that team and be competitive in that match against Levante."
Currently, Villarreal are placed seventh on the table with 45 points from the 29 matches they have played.