Villarreal

Last season champions league semi finalist. Knocked out of the intertoto cup last nite.

Forlan, Tacchinardi and Gonzalo Rodriguez were sent off for Villarreal, as they bid farewell to any hopes of playing in the Uefa Cup this season. A 1-1 draw in the return leg saw them being knocked out of the Intertoto Cup by Slovenian side Malibor, 3-2 on aggregate.

Having lost 2-1 in El Madrigal, the Yellow Submarines needed a good win in the return leg to progress any further in the Intertoto Cup.

However, the Spaniards succumbed to the physical approach of the Slovenians, and struggled to get any sort of rythm going. The Swiss referee seemed keen to wave play on, much to the chagrin of Manuel Pellegrini and his men.

The match went into the final ten minutes, with Villarreal still needing two goals, and getting frustrated by the minute. Their challenges had started turning into desperate lunges, and it was only a matter of time before the numbers on the pitch went down.

Tacchinardi was the first to get sent off, in the 80th minute, for a second bookable offense.

Villarreal were a man down and needed two goals. New signing Nihat Kahveci gave them a lifeline in the 85th minute with his first goal for the club, to make for an exciting final five minutes.

Villarreal then pushed forward for the goal which would see them through, and had a great chance in the 88th minute, but youth team player Jonathan failed to convert. Malibor broke at pace, and drew a foul from Gonzalo Rodriguez, which saw him see red too.

Malibor then scored from the resulting play to make it 1-1, as Zajc found himself in space and beat Sebastian Viera and rub salts into Villarreal's wounds. Diego Forlan made it even worse by managing to lose the plot completely, to get himself sent off in the final minute.

It ended 1-1, with eight men Villarreal seeing their European hopes go up in smoke. While they could ask why a lot of Malibor challenges earlier in the match went unpunished, few would dispute that Malibor deserved to go through after winning the first leg, and preventing Villarreal from playing their game in the second.

The result, however, will come as a huge blow for the club which made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League last season