Villereal (1-0) - 19th April 2006

Well we've one foot in the final but the Spanish side showed enough quality (if not much punch) that suggested they will make it very hard in a week's time. I arrived early to take a last walk around the old stadium (see above) and it's a very different place 3 hours before kick off. The scarf sellers are out in force (do they all have every scarf of every club in Europe?), the stalls are setting up and, strangely, the stadium reverberates to the sound of the Champions' League theme music!As for the game, this was a different animal to the previous 2 home legs. Villereal are a predominantly South American side who play with a defensive outlook and the over dramatic art of diving, time wasting etc. We had an early goal disallowed (wrongly), they had a good claim for a penalty (only seen after on TV) and we scored the vital goal at a good time. 1-0 was about right and certainly better than the potential 2-1 if the 2 decisions had been different. So a clean sheet from the greatest european defence ever(!) gives us a 60:40 chance in the final. I hope my eurostar tickets haven't jinxed it!