: Villarreal 2 - Middlesbrough 0

Villarreal: Reina; Javi Venta, Quique Alvarez, Gonzalo Rodríguez, Arruabarrena; Josico, César Arzo; Cazorla, Riquelme (Peña 87'), Héctor Font; Guayre (Xisco Nadal 87'). 4-2-3-1.
Middlesbrough: Schwarzer; Quedreue,Riggott, Southgate, McMahon (Reiziger 72'); Downing, Nemeth, Doriva (Hasselbaink 46'), Boateng, Zenden; Job (Viduka 46'). 4-5-1.

Goals:
1-0. 37. Guayre. Ran on to Riquelme through ball and struck shot across keeper.
2-0. 75. Javi Venta. Took return pass from Riquelme and beat keeper from right.

Villarreal beat Middlesbrough 2-0 to record their first win in the league stage of the new look UEFA cup. Pellegrini once again had trouble putting out a side, particularly in attack where Forlán was cup tied and José Marí was suspended, and Guayre returned to his old role of striker. His team were up against a few well known faces from Spanish football, with Zenden and Reiziger (ex Barcelona), Hasselbaink (ex Atlético) and Doriva (ex Celta) all in the squad, although Mendieta was missing from Steve McLaren's side due to a serious knee injury.

The visiting manager opted for a defensive line up at the start though, with Hasselbaink and Viduka both on the bench and Job alone up front. But they hardly troubled Reina throughout the first half, a shot from Dowling the only time the keeper was really called upon to intervene. The locals could have scored when Schwarzer did well to clear Riquelme's free kick at the second attempt, and then held on to a long effort from Cazorla. And they finally did take the lead when Riquelme fed Guayre for him to turn a low shot past the Australian international keeper.

McLaren decided to make a double change at the break, bringing on Hasselbaink and Viduka. And they did make some inroads, with Viduka in particular going close and Riggott turning another effort from the Aussie striker into the net only to have the goal ruled out for offside. But with a quarter of an hour to go Riquelme struck again, playing a return pass into the path of Javi Venta for him to fire a shot into the roof of the net. It was all over, and Villarreal had the win they needed to take them into the top three spots in their group.