Villarreal Seek Scoring Touch

[MH]

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In the three seasons since UEFA restructured the format of the UEFA Champions League by abolishing the second group stage, no team has progressed as far as Villarreal CF while scoring so few goals. However, the Spanish side must now add to their low tally of eight strikes in the competition if they are to complete their fairy-tale debut by overcoming Arsenal FC to win a place in the final on 17 May.

Home struggles
• Clubs playing at home first in the semi-final have not had things their own way in recent campaigns. Before this term, only three of the last ten UEFA Champions League semi-finals had produced a home win in the first leg. Of those home victors, just AS Monaco FC in 2003/04 and AC Milan last season made it to the final. Arsenal's aim will be to improve that statistic as they defend a narrow advantage at El Madrigal.

• The odds may be against Villarreal, however, as in the 14 seasons since the UEFA Champions League was created, post-group only 16 teams have recovered from losing the first leg to win the tie.

Winning farewell
• Kolo Touré's first-half goal – his first in 14 months since he struck against FC Bayern München in the first knockout round in February 2005 - gave Arsenal a winning farewell to their Highbury home in the last European game to be staged there before the summer move to a new stadium at nearby Ashburton Grove. It was not the worst result the Spanish visitors could have suffered but they know the difficulties they now face trying to reduce the deficit.

Nine clean sheets
• Breaching the Londoners' defence has proved a task beyond their opponents in Arsenal's last nine UEFA Champion League outings. Arsène Wenger's men have not conceded a goal in 829 minutes and that magnificent sequence was rarely threatened at Highbury.

Goalless will do
• For Arsenal to make their first UEFA Champions League semi-final a winning experience and give England a representative in the final for the second year running, they only need to replicate the result from the second-leg games in both the previous rounds. Against Real Madrid CF (home) and Juventus (away) the result was 0-0.

• But Villarreal – attempting to follow Liverpool FC in becoming the second successive winners of the trophy who started their journey in the third qualifying round as well as the first team to reach the final in their debut campaign since Valencia CF in 1999/00 - will remember that in the quarter-finals they also trailed from the first match.

• That 2-1 defeat at FC Internazionale Milano came after Diego Forlán had shot the Spanish side ahead. At home they then pulled through with a 1-0 victory thanks to Rodolfo Arruabarrena's second-half header which ensured a triumph on away goals. The full-back had also registered the equaliser at home in the first knockout round to enable Manuel Pellegrini's men to advance, again on away goals, at the expense of Rangers FC.

Two defeats
• The San Siro loss was Villarreal's only previous reverse in the competition. Their first term in the élite tournament has seen them remain unbeaten at El Madrigal and it is also a venue at which no English visitor has won.

• In the third qualifying round in August they overcame Everton FC 2-1 there to complete a 4-2 aggregate success and followed that by holding Manchester United FC to goalless draws home and away in the group stage.

• Before this season, Villarreal's only meeting with Premiership opposition had come at home to Middlesbrough FC in last year's UEFA Cup group stage when they recorded a 2-0 triumph.

Unbeaten at home
• Villarreal have not lost in six home games in the current edition, including the third qualifying round. They have only conceded three goals in total, and never more than one a match.

Leading scorers
• Arruabarrena's two strikes make him joint-top scorer for the Primera División outfit – who qualified after finishing third in Spain in 2004/05 - in the competition. Forlán and Juan Román Riquelme are also on two with the latter's goals both coming from the penalty spot.

Recent form best
• For this away match, Arsenal will be seeking to repeat the form of their last two trips to Spain when they recorded victories. In this season's first knockout round, a 1-0 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu – the first time English opposition had prevailed at Madrid - was secured by Thierry Henry's solo goal. His tally in the tournament stands at five and assuming he plays in El Madrigal, he will be chasing his 50th European goal in his 102nd appearance in UEFA club competition.

• Henry also netted in the 2-0 home success against Juventus in the quarter-final with Cesc Fabregas getting the other.

Pirès the winner
• Before the Madrid win, Arsenal's last game in Spain had brought a 3-2 triumph at RC Celta de Vigo in the first knockout round of the 2003/04 tournament. Robert Pirès fired the winner after the hosts had twice cancelled out goals by Brazilian midfielder Edu.

• Arsenal's previous six matches in that country in UEFA club competition had brought five straight defeats and a draw.

Unbeaten run
• This term they are unbeaten in eleven games so far and have conceded just one goal away from home, Markus Rosenberg's strike for AFC Ajax with 19 minutes remaining of the Matchday 2 fixture in the Amsterdam ArenA. That was the last time the Gunners' defence was breached.

Two final defeats
• Arsenal twice lost in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final to Spanish sides. Valencia were victors in 1979/80 and Real Zaragoza triumphed in the 1994/95 showpiece. The latter defeat came at the Parc des Princes in Paris, host city for this year's UEFA Champions League final.

Come On You Gunners...... :bigsmile: :dance: :bigsmile: :dance:

[MH]

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Kolo Touré's first-half goal, and a ninth successive clean sheet in the UEFA Champions League, earned Arsenal FC a slender but precious advantage to take to Spain and El Madrigal, home of Villarreal CF, for next week's semi-final second leg as the Premiership team bid a winning European farewell to Highbury.

Solitary Strike
Villarreal came into the match undefeated in five previous encounters with English opposition but were undone by Touré's close-range finish four minutes before half-time that settled a tense tie in Arsenal's favour. The Londoners managed to contain the fulcrum of the Villarreal side, Juan Román Riquelme, for the majority of the game, and should they stretch their run without conceding to a tenth match, a place in the final in Paris on 17 May beckons.

Set-piece threat
Arsène Wenger had said he believed a high tempo could unsettle the visitors so it was little surprise that the hosts sought to dictate the pace from the kick-off. It seemed Arsenal had pinpointed set-pieces as a potential source of goals, and three times within the opening ten minutes Villarreal might have fallen behind in this manner. As early as the third minute Thierry Henry's left-wing free-kick caused problems in the Spanish team's goalmouth and Touré prodded an effort narrowly wide. Fredrik Ljungberg then came close to connecting with Gilberto's downward header before the unmarked Philippe Senderos nodded over following another accurate Henry delivery.

Lehmann alert
It was inevitable the English side would be unable to maintain such a frenetic start and gradually Villarreal settled and began to assert themselves. Home goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had to be alert twice in quick succession midway through the opening period, first scampering off his line to clear from the feet of Diego Forlán after Senderos had been caught in possession and then gathering Riquelme's long-range free-kick at the second attempt. Arsenal quickly regained the upper hand, however, a curling shot past the post from Robert Pirès rousing the crowd again before Ljungberg, Senderos and Gilberto all had opportunities to scramble in yet another Arsenal set-piece.

Touré on target
The next corner, the Gunners' fifth of the half, finally yielded reward. Again Villarreal were unable to clear their lines effectively, the ball merely finding its way back to Henry on the left for the Arsenal captain to slide a pass inside to Aleksandr Hleb and the Belarussian's low centre was turned into an unguarded net by Touré. Villarreal almost restored parity before half-time, though, Lehmann managing to punch clear another Riquelme strike from distance. The visitors, however, had shown enough to suggest they carried significant threat of their own, Lehmann palming away Forlán's cross minutes before Touré's goal and another long-range drive at the start of the second half, from Alessio Tacchinardi, demonstrated their intent.

Henry denied
Senderos was then required to divert Marcos Senna's low effort behind and Forlán might have made contact with Tacchinardi's cross-shot although the midfielder then collected a booking that will rule him out of Tuesday's second leg after bringing down the increasingly influential Hleb. The Arsenal man had nearly created a second goal for his team moments earlier, freeing Emmanuel Eboué inside the area only for César Arzo to nod away Henry's flick from the right-back's low delivery.

Packed midfield
Play was then broken up by a series of fouls and both sides continued to pass well while struggling to muster a genuine sight of goal. Arsenal's five-man midfield, which had previously nullified Real Madrid CF and Juventus, succeeded in stifling another Primera División outfit and extended to 829 minutes their record-breaking sequence without shipping a goal, to leave the tie intriguingly poised. Villarreal are yet to lose at home in the competition, but simply avoiding defeat will not be enough next week.