REPORT: CL - Villarreal 1 - 0 Inter (2-2 on agg)

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Champions League Q/F, 2nd leg - 4/4/06 (19.45)


Arrubarrena 58 (V)


El Madrigal

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Inter are out of the Champions League on away goals after their 1-0 defeat at Villarreal's Madrigal stadium.

The Nerazzurri could protect a 2-1 lead from the first leg, but after Diego Forlan scored at the San Siro in the opening minute, knew that they needed at least an away goal of their own to be safe. Villarreal welcomed Rodolfo Arrubarrena and ex-Juventus man Alessio Tacchinardi back from suspension. Despite his goal in the first leg and against Messina on Saturday, Obafemi Martins was benched in favour of Alvaro Recoba, while Luis Figo returned from a calf injury.

As expected, the Spaniards had a strong start and Jose Mari just failed to get his head on the end of a Juan Pablo Sorin cross, while at the other end Senna charged down a Juan Sebastian Veron shot.

Jose Mari nodded a Venta centre just over the bar and Recoba curled high and wide.

Marco Materazzi's intervention prevented Sorin making the most of a splendid Forlan assist with penalty appeals waved away for this challenge.

Francesco Toldo made his first save of the evening on 33 minutes, stopping an Arrubarrena header.

Riquelme's left-foot strike was off target as Villarreal increased the pressure before the break.

Dejan Stankovic switched to the right flank and his weak effort was straight into the arms of Viera.

Riquelme drilled over the bar following some fantastic footwork, then his corner kick was turned wide off the head of Tacchinardi at the near post.

There was trouble after the half-time whistle, as a scuffle broke out between Veron and ex-Lazio man Sorin on their way back to the changing rooms.

Senna threaded through for Jose Mari's right-foot strike from the edge of the penalty area and Toldo fingertipped it over the bar.

Toldo was again tested by Riquelme's effort, then Materazzi intercepted Forlan's assist for Jose Mari.

Recoba made way for Obafemi Martins 11 minutes into the second half, as the Uruguayan was clearly not 100 per cent fit.

Toldo rushed off his line to close down Jose Mari as he ran on to Riquelme's pass.

Moments later, Villarreal made their pressure count by opening the scoring with the goal that could be enough to put them through. Toldo mistimed his run on a Riquelme free kick and was beaten by Arrubarrena's glancing header.

Toldo made up for his error by flying to tip a splendid Forlan left-foot screamer out of the top corner of the net.

Inter needed to score now to avoid going out on the away goals rule and had to step up a gear, but were forced to defend when Materazzi deflected a Riquelme effort out for a corner.

Venta intercepted a Martins solo run, then the Nigerian slipped inside the area just as he was lining up his shot on Esteban Cambiasso's assist.

Materazzi elbowed Sorin, perhaps by accident, perhaps not, giving him a cut above his eye, while Villarreal kept pushing and another Jose Mari shot skimmed the upright.

Sinisa Mihajlovic was thrown on for Figo for his free kick capabilities in the final 15 minutes, pushing Javier Zanetti into midfield and Materazzi over to the left-back role.

Toldo was kept busy in the closing stages, as Forlan shaved the post from the edge of the box. Soon after, the goalkeeper performed a fine save to keep out Riquelme's strike from an impossible angle.

Inter couldn't seem to put pressure on the Spaniards, apart from a long-range Mihajlovic effort that was over the bar. Julio Ricardo Cruz replaced Veron for a last-ditch attempt to break them down in the final five minutes.

Martins had penalty appeals turned away for a shirt-tug and a Stankovic shot was beaten away by Viera, but it was too little to overturn this tie.


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Villarreal: Viera; Venta, Pena, Quique Alvarez, Arrubarrena; Sorin (Franco 78), Tacchinardi, Senna; Riquelme; Forlan (Calleja 90), Josè Mari (Josico 78)

Inter: Toldo; Cordoba, Materazzi, Samuel, J Zanetti; Figo (Mihajlovic 75), Veron (Cruz 85), Cambiasso, Stankovic; Adriano, Recoba (Martins 56)

Ref: Vassaras (Gre)

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Roberto Mancini has taken the blame for Inter’s shock Champions League exit, but President Giacinto Facchetti has slammed the ‘insipid’ team.

“It was a good first half performance, but we were disappointing in the second half and it was a really stupid goal to concede. We thought we’d be able to score at least one here and qualify, but we gave our all and couldn’t break through,” said Mancini after the 1-0 defeat at Villarreal saw them crash out on away goals, 2-2 on aggregate.


“Physically we are fine, so that’s not the problem. We seemed to have problems with the final ball and particularly struggled to get anywhere near their goal in the second half. A team like ours had to try harder, there’s no doubting that, and I take responsibility for this.”


Some of Mancini’s tactical choices caused controversy, such as replacing Luis Figo with Sinisa Mihajlovic and starting with a not 100 per cent fit Alvaro Recoba.


“Unfortunately, when someone makes decisions they sometimes work and others don’t. I’ll evaluate the situation by myself later. Figo had been out for almost three weeks, so he wasn’t match fit and I thought that putting Mihajlovic in would give us something more from set-pieces.”


Mancini’s men are out of the Scudetto race and leave Europe after picking what many thought was the easiest draw in the quarter-finals.


“I think the qualification was within our grasp and it was a good chance to reach the semi-final, as Villarreal are certainly not superior to us. There is regret, of course.”


Inter President Facchetti was visibly angry when he attended the Press room after the match and aimed the finger of blame squarely at the players.


“At the end of the first leg I said we’d need a team with character to overturn this result, but we proved that we had no belief, no character and no determination. After a balanced first half, we had no reaction when we went behind and risked conceding even more goals. It’s incomprehensible that we only put some pressure on in the final five minutes. If you don’t have that spirit, you’ll get nowhere.”


Facchetti, a former Nerazzurri captain, was furious with the sluggish nature of his stars, who rarely troubled the Spanish defence.


“It was the attitude that angered me, as we were utterly unable to create good scoring opportunities. I at least expected some sort of reaction after conceding the goal, but there was nothing. We certainly did not think this was going to happen when we were paired with Villarreal.”


Adriano barely warranted a mention for his performance, but much of the squad didn’t do any better at the Madrigal.


“I don’t want to name names, but it was normal to expect the team to react after the goal. All we managed was one long-range shot and a chance where Obafemi Martins slipped inside the area.”


It looks to be another season of disappointment for the Inter faithful, who are at least still on track to defend their Coppa Italia trophy.


“Every time we seem to be heading for a major objective, the team disappoints and doesn’t step up to the plate. A side needs grit and determination. We’d proved in the first leg that we could beat Villarreal, but did far too little tonight to follow that up,” said the President, but he rejected talk of Mancini’s dismissal.


“We are disappointed about this elimination, but we’ll talk about this tomorrow. There’s no reason to scrap everything we’ve worked on so far.”