Galatasaray 2 - Villarreal 2

Galatasaray: Mondragon; César Prates, O. Erdogan, Orhan, Ergun; Sabri, Petre (Hasan Sas 75'), Volkan (Batista 46'), Murat Erdogan (Ayhan 46'); Necati, Umit Karan. 4-4-2.
Villarreal: Reina; Javi Venta, Coloccini, Ballesteros, Arruabarrena; Battaglia, Josico; Víctor (Pedro Martí 73'), Riquelme, Roger (Verza 86'); Sonny Anderson (Tena 81'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 07. Anderson. Ran on to Roger through ball and shot wide of Mondragon.
0-2. 22. Riquelme. Collected Anderson pass and cut in to shoot through keeper.
1-2. 26. Murat Erdogan. Following up after Reina pushed out shot from Prates.
2-2. 52. César Prates. Curled free kick over wall from outside of area.

Villarreal had the hardest task on paper of all the Spanish sides in the third round of the UEFA cup, with a visit to the intimidating Ataturk stadium, home of Galatasaray in Istanbul. The surprise resignation of manager Benito Floro midweek added to their concerns, but they started well under caretaker manager Paquito and raced into a two goal lead with only a quarter of the match gone. Román Riquelme was once again the architect of the team, combining with Víctor and Roger to set up Sonny Anderson for a seventh minute opener, and then taking a pass from the Brazilian striker to cut past a defender and score himself with a shot which went under keeper Mondragon.

The Turkish side came back though before the break with a goal from Murat after Reina could only push out a César Prates free kick, and Anderson wasted two chances to increase the lead, including one where he incredibly shot wide when presented with an open goal only one yard out. Prates levelled the scores himself though with another free kick early in the second half, and Villarreal were struggling when Ballesteros was sent off for a second bookable offence with half an hour still to go. However Reina made a couple of vital saves and the Spaniards held on to take a good result back home for the second leg.