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Villarreal edge past Rangers into last eight
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-08 08:50
VILLARREAL, Spain, March 7 (Reuters) - Villarreal's maiden Champions League
journey continued on Tuesday when a 1-1 draw with Rangers put them into the
quarter-finals on away goals.
Villarreal's players Alessio Tacchinardi of
Italy (L) celebrates with his team mate Guillermo Franco of Mexico in
front of Ranger's goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus of Holand (R) and Barry
Ferguson (C) at the end of their Champions League first knockout round
second leg soccer match at Villarreal's Madrigal stadium March 7, 2006.
[Reuters] | The Spanish club, who drew 2-2 in
Glasgow in the first leg of the first knockout round two weeks ago, suffered a
fright when Peter Lovenkrands put Rangers ahead after 12 minutes.
They struggled to create many clear chances against a fully-committed Rangers
side, but grabbed the precious equaliser after 49 minutes when Rodolfo
Arruabarrena fired home after Diego Forlan had cut the ball back.
Scottish champions Rangers, backed by a huge visiting army of fans in the
Madrigal stadium, caused some anxious moments for the hosts in the closing
stages but Villarreal held firm.
"This is a very important achievement for both the club and for the town of
Villarreal," said Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini, whose impressive side are
yet to lose a match in the competition.
"There are no limits to what this club can achieve. So far no one has shown
themselves to be better than us on the pitch.
"Rangers made life difficult for us in the first half, but we responded well
in the second and the most important thing was to get through."
A poor domestic season for Rangers has been partially redeemed by their
European performances and manager Alex McLeish said he was proud of his players.
"It is difficult to speak just now, the players are shattered in there, they
gave everything," McLeish, who will step down at Ibrox at the end of the season,
told ITV.
REALLY PROUD
"We went for broke at the end and I'm really proud of the players. We took it
right down to the wire and we had the opportunity to get an historic result in
Rangers history."
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