Villarreal win fuelled by Bayern boss Nagelsmann’s remarks, says Moreno
VILLARREAL forward Gerard Moreno said comments by Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann inspired the Spaniards to their shock 2-1 aggregate win over the German giants in the Champions League quarterfinals yesterday.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Villarreal snatched a 1-1 draw on the night and a semifinal place through Samuel Chukwueze’s 88th-minute goal.
“Tonight they (Bayern) made the mistake of not killing us off and we took advantage of that,” Moreno said.
On Monday, Nagelsmann said Villarreal had made a mistake by winning the first leg by a slender 1-0 margin “which allowed us to survive”.
“In the first leg we made the mistake of not finishing them off. All the comments about that served as motivation,” said Moreno, whose cross set up Chukwueze’s tie-winning strike. “What this team has done is great.”
Robert Lewandowski had put Bayern ahead on the night to level the tie.
Unai Emery’s Villarreal had already knocked out Juventus in the last 16 following a stunning 3-0 win in Turin.
“It’s an extraordinary feeling, it was not easy for us. We are a small club, from a village, like that of Asterix and Obelix,” said Emery.
“We are moving forward step by step, we had a very difficult quarter-final.”
Villarreal captain Raul Albiol, the man of the match in Munich, who at 36 is two years older than Nagelsmann, added: “It’s unbelievable, it’s taken a lot of hard work,” said
“Our victories are as a team. We have suffered a lot in both games, but to be in the semifinals is great for Villarreal.
“We knew it was going to be a long 90 minutes and we were going to suffer a lot.
“We want more. We see ourselves as causing problems to all our opponents.”
Emery basked in the glory of a historic result for Villarreal in his 50th Champions League match as a coach.
“We took a lot of confidence from the first leg result, but we had to defend well and we tried to create our own chances – we created five and took the final one,“he said.
Bayern Munich’s season cannot be successful after their Champions League exit even if they land their 10th straight Bundesliga title, lamented Nagelsmann.
The Bavarians are nine points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund atop the Bundesliga with five matches remaining.
“We are out of the German Cup, out of the Champions League. I don’t think this is good enough for Bayern.
“We had the semifinals as our minimum goal and we failed to achieve it,“Nagelsmann said. “It counts as one of my top three defeats.”
Thomas Muller came close with a diving header before Chukwueze netted on the break to crush the home side’s hopes.
“What happened is we lost the duel. With our performance today you saw the emotions and the good tactics we played. It was quite the opposite from the first leg,” Nagelsmann said.
“We knew they can defend. At the end we missed that second goal. The pressure was good. We defended well. We dominated them for much of the game but it matters little because we are eliminated.”
Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn, however, was not going to throw a fit over the result.
The legendary goalkeeper simply wants to focus on the positives and move forward.
“Of course it’s always disappointing when you concede a goal just before the end. We could have done made it 2-0 before,” Kahn told
“You can hardly show more will than what the team showed today. We were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but we won’t burst into tears now. “We have another opportunity next year and will try to use it. We will now focus on the league and throw everything into it.” – AFP/Reuters/Agencies