Betis 3 - Villarreal 3

Betis: Doblas; Miguel Angel, Arzu, Juanito, Romero (Maldonado 82'); Capi (Melli 61'), Marcos Assunçao; Edu, Fernando, Xisco (Dani 61'); Robert. 4-2-3-1.
Villarreal: Viera; Josemi, Cygan, Fuentes, José Enrique; Matias Fernández (Pires 72'), Marcos Senna, Josico, Marcos García (Arruabarrena 83'); Diego Forlán, Guille Franco (S0moza 78'). 4-4-2.

Team changes: Betis: Miguel Angel, Romero, Fernando, Xisco for Ilic, Melli, Fernando Vega, Pancraté / Villarreal: Guille Franco for Tomasson.

Goals:
0-1. 01. Diego Forlán. Picked up ball on left of area and forced shot under Doblas.
1-1. 09. Fernando. Steered header wide of Viera from Romero's long cross
1-2. 47. Diego Forlán. Shot wide of keeper after Guille Franco headed back corner.
2-2. 71. Edu. Guided header wide of Viera from Marcos Assunçao free kick.
2-3. 77. Pires. Controlled Forlán's lobbed pass and shot low past Doblas.
3-3. 90. Juanito. From close up after corner not cleared by defence.

A thrilling 3-3 draw between Villarreal and Betis in the opening match on Saturday night following the two week lay-off for international matches. This was Betis's first game of three in exile following the incidents in their cup tie with neighbours Sevilla, although they were allowed to play in the Cartuja stadium in their home town rather than move further afield. Coach Luis Fernandez ordered the pitch to be narrowed down to constrain his opponents' wing play, although it had no effect as Diego Forlán ran through to beat Doblas with less than a minute on the clock.

Betis were level just ten minutes later though when Fernando steered a header wide of Viera from Romero's cross, and for the rest of the first half either side could have scored. The locals were caught out again in the opening minutes of the second half when Forlán scored from close up after Guille Franco headed back a corner, but Robert and Capi both went close before Edu made it all square again with a header from Marcos Assunçao's long free kick.

However Pires put his side back in front for the third time with his first goal for his club after collecting a lofted pass from Forlán. That seemed to be the winner, but the Andalusians didn't give up and Juanito scrambled a shot past Viera following a last minute corner to save another valuable point for his side.