Villarreal 1 - Betis 4

Villarreal: Unanua; Javi Venta, Quique Alvarez, Unai, Galván; Quique Medina, Guayre (Xisco Nadal 75'), Farinós, Jorge López (Verza 69'), Héctor Font (Cases 63'); De Nigris. 4-1-4-1.
Betis: Prats; Cañas, Juanito, Belenguer, Mingo; Ito, Benjamín (Varela 46'); Joaquín, Fernando (Luis Fernández 63'), Capi; Dani (Calado 73'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Villarreal: Unanua, Quique Medina, Héctor Font for López Vallejo, Calleja, Palermo / Betis: Cañas, Benjamín for Varela, Marcos Assunçao.

Goals:
1-0. 13. Guayre. Latched on to Jorge López cross to chip ball over Prars into net.
1-1. 24. Dani. Charged down clearance form Unanua and rolled ball into empty net. 1-2. 36. Joaquín. Beat Unanua with curling direct free kick from outside of area.
1-3. 56. Dani. Ran through defence to shoot into far top corner of net.
1-4. 76. Joaquín. Ran on to Luis Fernández pass to lob ball over keeper.

Villarreal were hoping for a win in their last game of the season against Betis to finish in the top twelve and qualify for an Intertoto spot. But although they were beaten 1-4 and ended the day in fifteenth, they were awarded one of the places in the competition anyway. Benito Floro had already given some of his key players an early holiday in preparation, and with Belletti also on international duty with Brazil, he called up a squad which included seven youngsters. Even so his side took the lead, Guayre running on to Jorge López's pass to beat Prats.

Their joy was short-lived though, as third choice keeper Unanua, playing his first and only league game of the season, gave the ball away to Dani for him to score into an empty net. And Joaquín put the visitors in front before the break with a sweetly struck free kick from outside of the area. Dani squirmed through the defence to add a third after the break, and Floro decided it was all over, using the occasion to blood some of his young stars including Verza and under 17 internationals Cases and Xisco Nadal.

Joaquín got another well taken goal a quarter of an hour from the end to round things off and take his side up to a merited eighth place, and more importantly for the supporters two places above city rivals Sevilla. Villarreal were grateful for the news of Barcelona's success as that meant they would take the first Intertoto spot and thereby avoid a first game in two weeks' time. A happy day all round, some would say.