Cedric Bakambu scored twice as Villarreal recorded a 2-1 victory over Sparta Prague in the quarter-finals of the Europa League tonight.
The DR Congo international broke the deadlock in just the third minute, before Jakub Brabec responded for the visitors in first-half stoppage time.
Bakambu ensured that the Spaniards would have a lead to take with them to Prague for the second leg, though, when he curled in the winner in the 63rd minute.
Find out how the match unfolded with Sports Mole's text updates below.
Villarreal: Asenjo; Mario, Bailly, Ruiz, Costa; Castillejo, Trigueros, Bruno, Suarez; Soldado; Bakambu
Sparta: Bicik; Costa, Holek, Brabec; Marecek, Frydek, Matejovsky, Dockal, Krejci; Julis, Konate
© AFP
"The Europa League makes us really excited,'' he told Villarreal's official website. I already won it last year and we want to win it this year too. We must focus on ourselves. We're the favourites, but Sparta Prague come to us after knocking out Krasnodar and Lazio and so we can't think it's won.
"Our season is going excellently. We're playing really well in the league and in the Europa League we're in the thick of the knockout stages, where we must fight to the death. Playing at home in the first leg will benefit us. We must play hard to win and keep a clean sheet so we can defend our lead at their ground."
© Getty Images
"The feeling we have just from getting to the quarter-finals is fabulous. Villarreal will be very tough opponents obviously. Like all Liga sides they have marvellous technical ability. There are two difficult games ahead of us," he told UEFA's official website.
"Villarreal might have better footballers than us, but we have made the most of our teamwork and can do so again."
Villarreal: Finishing second to group winners Rapid Vienna, the Yellow Submarine were faced with one of the pre-tournament favourites Napoli in the last 32. They came out on top, though, thanks to a 2-1 aggregate triumph. Next up was Bayer Leverkusen, who were disposed of 2-0 over 180 minutes of football.
Sparta: Three draws and three wins in the group stages saw the Czechs advance in second place behind Schalke 04. After that, highly fancied Russian outfit Krasnodar were impressively dispatched 4-0 on aggregate. They have saved the best until most recent, though, as an unexpected 3-0 triumph away at the Stadio Olimpico against Lazio sealed a 4-1 victory.
Sparťané právě dorazili na stadion. U vjezdu už je "přivítali" domácí fanoušci. pic.twitter.com/D7scnl7PMu
— AC Sparta Praha (@ACSparta_CZ) April 7, 2016
40 minutos | Así recibió la afición al equipo en su llegada a El Madrigal. #VILvACS #VillarrealTVhttps://t.co/WLQprwnBvc
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) April 7, 2016
"We might be the favourites but we'll try not to get into trouble by believing we are already through. Sometimes we forget what a great season we're having. We just think that the enormous success we've had so far is normal. The players are making that possible."
"When analysing previous opponents I've always found weak points. Sometimes it was the space in front of the central defenders, sometimes down the wings. But this time I told the players that after watching four or five Villarreal games I don't see a weak point."
Cédric Bakambu has scored 6 goals in the Europa League this season, only Aubameyang (7) and Aduriz (8) have more. pic.twitter.com/sX5VQc0wbJ
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) April 7, 2016
© AFP
1- Villarreal have conceded their first goal at home in this Europa League edition. Annoyance.
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 7, 2016
Cedric Bakambu scores twice for @VillarrealCF and has 19 goals for them this season, which is one shy of Luciano Vietto's total from 2014/15
— Infostrada Sports (@InfostradaLive) April 7, 2016