Valencia 3 - Villarreal 1

Valencia: Cañizares; Ayala, Djukic, Pellegrino; Angloma, Mendieta (Albelda 80'), Baraja, Kily González (Vicente 85'); Aimar; Juan Sánchez, Carew. 3-4-1-2.
Villarreal: López Vallejo; Xavi Roca (Javier Gracia 65'), Quique Alvarez, Unai (Berruet 60'), Arruabarrena; Galván, Amor, Cagna, Jorge López (Craioveanu 73'); Víctor, Palermo. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Valencia: Pellegrino, Mendieta, Kily González, Aimar for Carboni, Angulo, Albelda, Vicente / Villarreal: Xavi Roca for Calleja.

Goals:
1-0. 18. Carew. From close range after square pass from Juan Sánchez.
1-1. 34. Quique Alvarez. Header down on near post after corner from Víctor.
2-1. 45. Carew. Ran on to long pass from Pellegrino and hit first time shot.
3-1. 83. Carew. Soft header over keeper after Angloma cross from right of area.

It was billed as the Argentinian derby, the battle between River Plate and Boca Juniors only played on European soil. The match had captured the interest of the South American nation, there being no less than eight of their sons involved, and local television stations beamed the pictures to their fanatical fans in Buenos Aires and beyond. The centre of attention of course were the two winter signings, Aimar and Palermo, face to face playing for their new teams. But there were others too, Villarreal's side containing two more ex Boca players Cagna and Arruabarrena, with another Gustavo Schelotto on the bench, and Valencia included Ayala, late of River Plate, Pellegrino, who came from Vélez Sarsfield, and Kily González, a bit of a fifth columnist there having played in the past for Boca.

Héctor Cúper's doubts about where to play Aimar were dissipated when Carboni dropped out of the side with a groin strain, and he went back to the 3-4-1-2 formation he sometimes uses with Sánchez and Carew up front and Aimar in the slot behind them. Víctor Muñoz decided he could spare a man to get to know the Argentinian star a little better, and Galván was given instructions that he was to be within reading distance of the label on Aimar´s underpants at all times. The teams came out to a carnival atmosphere, some 4,000 or so Villarreal fans having made the short journey to Valencia for this match joining the 52,000 capacity crowd which included the president of the 'generalitat' of Valencia, Eduardo Zaplana. Aimar managed to get free of his marker for a second early on to shoot over the bar, and a few minutes later he put Juan Sánchez through for him to unselfishly set up John Carew for his first goal since the beginning of January. And once Carew got going there was no stopping him, the tall dark Norwegian overshadowing the Argentinian contingent with a hat-trick which takes him back in to the limelight.

Villarreal did come back in to the game for a short while, Quique Alvarez beating Cañizares with a well placed header from Víctor's corner, and Palermo just failed to get on the end of a long cross. But straight from the restart Carew restored Valencia's lead, and although they had to wait until seven minutes from the end for him to make it safe with his third, the home side were fully in control throughout the second half. Pellegrino had a goal disallowed for offside, Sánchez should have scored if he had been able to stay on his feet, and Aimar had a claim for a penalty turned down when Alvarez brought him down in the area. The win consolidated Valencia's third place in the table, distancing them from Villarreal who see their run of four victories in a row come to an end. With the teams immediately below them all failing to win they stay in fifth place, and are still right in line for their dream of a first ever appearance in a European competition. Argentina switched off their collective television sets well pleased.