Villarreal vs. Panathinaikos

Panathanaikos, who had enjoyed a very good group stage continued with that form tonight.

However, it was very much against the run of play when the Greek side opened the scoring on the hour mark. After having to sit back for lengthy periods as Villarreal sought the opener, Giorgos Karagounis broke from defence and in a rare counter-attack ran just over half the length of the field before firing home a terrific shot that flew into the top right hand corner of the net.

Seven minutes later Giuseppe Rossi equalised from the penalty spot after Jakub Wawrzyniak had fouled him.

Even the introduction of Villarreal’s midfielder Robert Pires was not enough as the “Yellow Submarine” desperately sought the winning goal.