Europa League

Villarreal 2 - Napoli 1

Villarreal: Diego López; Mario, Gonzalo, Musacchio, Capdevila; Cazorla (Català 78'), Bruno, Borja Valero, Cani (Marcos Gullón 81'); Nilmar, Rossi (Marco Rubén 89'). 4-4-2.
Napoli: De Sanctis; Zuñiga, Campagnaro, Víctor Ruíz, Cribari (Mascara 82'); Yebda (Pazienza 63'), Gargano; José Sosa (Cavani 52'), Hamsik, Dossena; Lavezzi. 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 17. Hamsik. Steered diving header wide of Diego López from Lavezzi cross.
1-1. 43. Nilmar. Picked up Borja's wide pass and beat De Sanctis with angled shot.
2-1. 45. Rossi. Ran on to Borja pass and struck shot which deflected in off Zuñiga.

Villarreal will be Spain's only representative in the last sixteen after coming from behind to beat Napoli 2-1 on Thursday night. Curiously the East coast side had not even qualified for the competition at first, and only came in after Mallorca were banned for financial reasons.

The scoreless draw from the first leg gave Garrido's team the advantage, but that was overturned with just over a quarter of an hour on the clock when Hamsik flung himself forward to head in Lavezzi's cross. Unfortunately a fence collapsed and people fell on to the pitch as the Italian fans surged forward in celebration, although in the end it appears nobody was seriously hurt.

After that Diego López was called upon a couple of times, but with two minutes to go to half time Borja slipped the ball out for Nilmar to beat De Sanctis with an angled shot, and with the first half already in injury time Rossi put the spaniards ahead after picking up another assist from Borja and firing in a shot which Zuñiga deflected past his own keeper.

Another away goal would still have taken the Italian side through however, and after the restart they hit the woodwork twice, the first a shot against the post from substitute Cavani, and the second against the crossbar by Lavezzi from a corner. Cazorla just failed to find the target and Nilmar was tripped in the area only to be booked for diving. But in the end there were no more goals, and Villarreal go on to play Bayer Leverkusen in the next round in two week's time.