Uche Ugboajah, Abuja
Villarreal provided one the big European football nights as the Spanish club claimed yet another big scalp on Tuesday night, dumping out former champions, Bayern Munich, from this year’s European Champions League competition.
The Spanish club had earlier eliminated Italian giants, Juventus.
The game ended 1-1 on the night with a late goal beautifully converted by late substitute, Chukwueze after a breathtaking counter attack. Villarreal advanced on (1-2) goal aggregate having won the first leg a week ago at home with a lone goal.
The Yellow Submarines coached by Unai Emery put up a defensive master class on the night that shut out the the home team after waves and waves of attacks with the the lethal Lewandowski at the center of it all.
With the first half ending goalless, Bayern knew they had to go for it at the resumption of play after the break.
And it did not take long for the persistent pressures to take its toll on the Villarreal defense when the usual suspect, Lewandowski, received a pass just at the periphery of the 18 yard box and clinically fired between the legs of a Villarreal defender on 52 minutes for the all-important goal that cancelled out the first-leg goal aggregate.
With a place in the semi finals at stake, Bayern went all out for the winning goal but Villarreal had other ideas.
After winning the ball from yet another wave of Bayern attack, Dani Parejo turned a couple of opposition players smartly inside out and released Gerard Moreno on the left who squared for the speedy Samuel Chukwueze to shoot beyond Manuel Neuer in goal for Bayern on the 88th minute.
Reflecting on the night, Emery, a former Arsenal manager, said “Let’s enjoy the semi finals. Knowing we are here, not because of how nice we are, or to let others say we are a nice and small town, but because we’ve worked for it.”
Villarreal will now meet the winner of the match between Liverpool and Benfica for a place in the finals.
