Villarreal 1 - Alavés 0

Villarreal: López Vallejo; Galván, Quique Alvarez, Berruet, Arruabarrena; Galca (Amor 75'), Cagna; Jorge López (Xavi Gracia 84'), Víctor, Calleja (Craioveanu 90'); Palermo. 4-2-3-1.
Alavés: Herrera; Geli, Coloccini, Karmona, Ochoa (Witschge 46'), Ibon Begoña; Astudillo (Mara 84'), Pablo, Magno; Jordi Cruyff, Rubén Navarro (Iván Alonso 65'). 5-3-2.

Team changes: Villarreal: Berruet for Unai / Alavés: Karmona, Ochoa, Ibon Begoña for Téllez, Llorens, Turiel.

Goals:
1-0. 37. Víctor. Flying header after Arruabarrena nodded on Galca free kick.

Alavés missed out on a chance to move to the top of the first division for the first time in their history when they lost by a single goal at Villarreal. Their manager Mané was not thinking of risking too much though, and with two of his first choice defenders suspended he finally decided to play with a five man defence, bringing in Ochoa for his first start with the side. Both sides started cagily, and the first opportunity of the match did not come until after halfway through the first half, when López Vallejo saved well from Rubén Navarro. That woke Villarreal up, and with Víctor leading the attack they pushed Alavés back in to their own half. With eight minutes to go to the break the pressure paid off, Arruabarrena heading across a long free kick for Víctor to fly through the air and head past the stationary Herrera, the Alavés defence making a reasonable impersonation of the extras in the six million Dollar man television series. Curiously it was Víctor's fifth goal of the season, all scored at home in the first half of the respective matches.

Mané replaced Ochoa with midfielder Witschge at the break, and the Dutch international put some life into the visitors with a couple of efforts on goal. It was nothing to write home about though, and in fact Villarreal were closest to scoring, first when Karmona cleared Palermo's'shot off the line and then when referee Puentes Leira turned down a penalty appeal after Karmona handled in the area. Víctor Muñoz brought on his three substitutes to kill time at the end, and the visitors' challenge ended when Galván cut out substitute Iván Alonso's late attack. Defeats for Barcelona and Valencia meant that Alavés stay second, although Villarreal close up to within three points of them despite remaining down in ninth place.