Villarreal 1 - 0 Levski Sofia
Nilmar seals Villareal victory
| Scoring Summary | |
| Villarreal | Levski Sofia |
| Honorato da Silva Nilmar (72) | |
| Match Stats | ||
| Villarreal | Levski Sofia | |
| Shots (on Goal) | 23(8) | 5(1) |
| Fouls | 7 | 9 |
| Corner Kicks | 10 | 3 |
| Offsides | 0 | 2 |
| Time of Possession | 60% | 40% |
| Yellow Cards | 0 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Saves | 3 | 11 |
| Match Information |
| Stadium: El Madrigal, Spain Attendance: 5,000 Match Time: 20:05 UK Official(s): Michael Dean (Referee) |
| Teams | |
| Villarreal | Levski Sofia |
| 13 Diego Lopez | 1 Georgi Petkov |
| 5 Joan Capdevila | 14 Veselin Minev |
| 17 Javi Venta | 5 Youssef Rabeh |
| 2 Gonzalo | 2 Viktor Genev |
| 20 Ivan Sierra Marcano | 20 Joao Santos |
| 7 Robert Pires | 22 Darko Tasevski |
| 6 Sebastian Ledesma Eguren | 15 Chakib Benzoukane |
| 10 Cani | 99 Georgi Hristov |
| 21 Soriano Llido Bruno | 27 C Bardon |
| 12 Honorato da Silva Nilmar | 24 Nikolay Dimitrov |
| 23 Jonathan | 30 L Baltanov |
| Substitutes | |
| 1 Xabi Oliva | Cvetan Dimitrov 31 |
| 4 Diego Roberto Leal Godin | Elin Topuzakov 11 |
| 11 Ariel Ibagaza | Sasha Simonovic 70 |
| 14 David Fuster | Lucio Wagner 25 |
| 24 Damian Ariel Escudero | Mariyan Ognyanov 16 |
| 9 Joseba Llorente | Yordan Miliev 55 |
| 22 Giuseppe Rossi | Hristo Yovov 10 |
| Substitutions | |
| Ariel
Ibagaza for Soriano
Llido Bruno (54) |
Hristo
Yovov for Georgi
Hristov (61) |
| Giuseppe
Rossi for Jonathan
(65) |
Sasha Simonovic for Darko
Tasevski (65) |
| Damian
Ariel Escudero for Robert
Pires (81) |
Mariyan Ognyanov for Nikolay
Dimitrov (77) |
| Yellow Cards | |
| Youssef
Rabeh (86) | |
| · Club Squads: Villarreal | Levski Sofia | |
Updated: September 17, 2009, 10:09 PM UK
Record signing Nilmar returned to secure a 1-0 victory for Villarreal in their Europa League Group G opener against Levski Sofia at El Madrigal.The Yellow Submarine were on stop from start to finish, but had only Nilmar's 72nd-minute winner to show for their superiority.
It was exactly what the Spanish side wanted from Nilmar, who joined for a fee thought to be in the region of 11million euros this summer, after he missed last weekend's league game against Real Mallorca with an ankle problem.
The Spanish side were utterly dominant in the first half, from the moment Jonathan Pereira's shot was held by Levski goalkeeper Georgi Petkov in the fourth minute.
Sebastian Eguren then headed Cani's corner wide less than a minute later, before Pereira again tested Petkov.
Robert Pires' corner found Gonzalo Rodriguez in the box, but he could not convert, and Cani's effort from the edge of the box was punched clear by Petkov.
Gonzalo got on the end of another Pires corner after 20 minutes but this time his header was too close to Petkov, who held on.
And the same combination linked up again just before the half-hour mark, Gonzalo firing over.
Pires tried his luck himself four minutes before the break but fired over, before Levski finally came to life in the dying minutes of the half.
Viktor Genev headed Nikolay Dimitrov's corner goalwards, but Diego Lopez fisted clear, while another centre from Dimitrov was nodded over by Chakib Benzoukane and the Villarreal stopper held Georgi Hristov's weak effort.
The second period went much the way of the first with constant Villarreal pressure, aside from Nikolay Dimitrov's speculative effort.
Pires, Cani, Sebastian Eguren and Pereira all missed the target, before the latter drew a save from Petkov.
Nilmar then missed a good chance and Ariel Ibagaza shot over, before the hosts finally took a deserved lead.
Giuseppe Rossi crossed from the left wing and Nilmar finished low into the left corner from 12 yards.
Still the pressure came from Villarreal and while they pressed for a second which never came, Levski never came close to an equaliser.