UEFA Cup

Villarreal 2 - Glasgow Celtic 0

Villarreal: Reina; Belletti, Coloccini, Ballesteros, Arruabarrena; Battaglia, Josico; José Marí (Javi Venta 86'), Riquelme, Roger; Sonny Anderson. 4-2-3-1.
Celtic: Marshall; Balde, Varga, Valgaeren, McNamara; Agathe, Lennon, Petrov, Miller (Smith 72'), Pearson (Wallace 72'); Larsson. 4-5-1.

Goals:
1-0. 06. Sonny Anderson. Header over Marshall from Belletti's long cross.
2-0. 67. Roger. First time shot past keeper from Anderson's cross.

Villarreal reserved their tickets for the semi-final with a 2-0 win over Celtic, a result which sent the 10,000 or so travelling Scottish fans home disappointed. The visiting supporters outnumbered the home crowd in the Madrigal stadium, and the atmosphere was friendly after local fan clubs organised a giant party with paella and 50,000 litres of beer for their guests (comment overheard: what do we want all this paella for?).

The Spaniards were favourites after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, and they took the lead early on when Sonny Anderson headed a long cross from Belletti over the head of the advancing Marshall. José Marí came close to adding a second a few minutes later, and Riquelme fired another shot just wide from outside of the area. Celtic's only reply was a shot way over the bar from Larsson, although they could have had a penalty when Arruabarrena barged over McNamara in the area shortly before the break.

The second half continued in the same vein, and only a brilliant tackle from Balde stopped Anderson from scoring again. Roger did though make it two when he crashed a first time shot past the keeper after a team move involving Riquelme, José Marí and Anderson, and the game was virtually over. Larsson put a free kick over the bar and then saw another effort saved by Reina later on, but the whistle went soon afterwards and Villarreal were through to the penultimate stage of the competition, an amazing achievement for a side making their first appearance in Europe this year.