Arsenal 1 - Villarreal 0

Arsenal: Lehmann; Eboué, Touré, Senderos, Flamini; Giberto Silva, Cesc; Ljungberg (Van Persie 80'), Hleb (Bergkamp 80'), Pires; Henry. 4-2-3-1
Villarreal: Barbosa; Javi Venta, Quique Alvarez, César Arzo, Arruabarrena; Marcos Senna, Tacchinardi, Sorín (Josico 72'); Riquelme; José Marí (Guille Franco 54'), Diego Forlán (Calleja 94'). 4-3-1-2.

Goals:
1-0. 41. Touré. Got on the end of Hleb's cross to poke shot past Barbosa.

Villarreal have an uphill battle if they are to win through to the final after losing 1-0 at Arsenal. It was the English side's last European game in the Highbury stadium, and they thought they had gone ahead when Henry got the ball in the net early on only for it to be ruled out for a borderline offside by the Austrian referee Konrad Plautz. The Spaniards replied with a Riquelme free kick which Lehmann (who had already gone eight Champions League games without letting in a goal) saved easily, but otherwise the locals were on top, with Pires going close in a prolonged attack.

Four minutes before half time though Arsenal took the lead, Henry slipping the ball through to Hleb for him to find Touré with a cross from the left. Villarreal felt themselves unlucky though not to be awarded a penalty a couple of minutes later when José Marí was brought down by Gilberto in the area, the referee waving play on despite the protests from the visitors.

Arsenal kept up the attack after the restart, Gilberto curling a shot wide and César Arzo heading a clever chip from Henry off the line. Marcos Senna put Lehmann to the test again with a long shot, but the visitors were let off a penalty when the ball hit Josico's arm in the area, and Javi Venta did well to turn a dangerous header from Henry away from goal with Bergkamp closing in for the kill. In the end though Pellegrini was happy enough to return to Spain only one goal down, and his side still have a fighting chance for next week's second leg in the Madrigal stadium.