Villarreal 1 - Betis 0

Villarreal: Reina; Javi Venta, Quique Alvarez, Coloccini, Arruabarrena; Pedro Martí, Marcos Senna; Guayre, Riquelme, José Marí; Víctor. 4-2-3-1.
Betis: Prats; Varela, Juanito, Rivas, Luis Fernández; Marcos Assunçao, Ito; Joaquín, Fernando (Alfonso 63'), Denilson (Ismael 56'); Dani (Tote 81'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Villarreal: Pedro Martí, Marcos Senna, Guayre, Víctor for Battaglia, Josico, Roger, Sonny Anderson / Betis: Varela, Juanito, Ito, Fernando for Tais, Melli, Arzu, Benjamín.

Goals:
1-0. 66. José Marí. Ran on to Riquelme through ball to shoot across keeper.

Villarreal bounced back from their midweek UEFA cup defeat at the hands of Valencia to beat a disappointing Betis 1-0 and move up to seventh spot, within a point of sixth placed Atlético Madrid. Paquito made five changes from the side which played on Thursday, but within three minutes one of the replacements Guayre had got the ball in the net after Prats spilled a long shot. Referee Pérez Lasa controversially disallowed the strike though for a more than dubious offside, and twenty minutes later he ruled out a second goal after Víctor burst down the right wing and fired in a cross which Prats turned in to his own net, again the offside decision being hotly disputed by the local players.

Betis had no reply, and Coloccini was unlucky not to give his side the lead when Prats somehow got a hand to his powerful header. Eventually though Villarreal did get the goal they were looking for, Riquelme finding José Marí with a pinpoint pass for him to shoot wide of the keeper from a tight angle. It was enough to take the three points and keep the East coast side on line for a return to Europe next season. The defeat though takes Betis out of the running for the European places, and manager Víctor Fernández is already resigned to the fact that someone else will take over his office in the summer.