in the most close group of this CL group stages Villareal and Lille could both qualify for the knock out stages with a draw when ManUtd draw at Lisbon in the other game.

i expect a usual group D match in which both teams will look to keep a clean sheet.

match preview

have fun talking about the match and the many possibilities of who makes it to the next round etc and don't worry when its just another 0-0 in this group

I honestly don't care what the outcome of this match is, as long as Benfica beats Man U then I am happy I don't care who goes through with us if we win.

Forlán is back, baby! Pellegrini's list of players: Sebastián Viera, Mariano Barbosa; Javi Venta, Kromkamp, Peña, Gonzalo, Arzo, Arruabarrena, Josico, Senna, Sorín, Riquelme, Roger, Cazorla, Héctor Font, Diego Forlán, José Mari, Antonio Guayre, Xisco Nadal and Lucho Figueroa.

So starting lineup for us will probably be:



SUBS:
Kromkamp in for any defender that might get tired
Roger might go in for Josico
Xisco might come in for José Mari as long as Diego still feels good, maybe Lucho. But I think playing Xisco would be a better choice, especially if we're up. Give the kid some playing time and he'll be a great talent. I'm not a fan of putting Guayre in if he's absolutely keen on leaving the club. But he's been injured, so I don't know what he wants. Maybe throw him a bone if it seems safe.

Alright! Now that we've got the usual strike partners back, with all our key players fit, we should be ready to kick some ass in front of a hopefully electric home crowd. The only worry I have is morale, with that arguably undeserved loss against Barça over the weekend. But this team is a great one and work fantastically as a unit, and hopefully the return of Forlán will bring back high spirits and a truckload of goals.

If we can bounce back from the loss this weekend, I predict a 2-0 victory. It would be a first for any team in this group to score more than once in a game. But we're gonna do it. I hope. I really want to beat the tar out of Lille, not because I hate them (I really don't mind them and in fact rejoiced at their victory against Man Utd), but because their coach had the audacity to say that Lille and Man Utd will go through. And just for that, I want to teach that guy a lesson.

edit: Here's the stream channels:

20:45CET Villarreal - Lille (courtesy of FreeFootball.org)

ESPN all (PPLIVE, PPSTREAM, SOPCAST)
Wuhan Sports (PPLIVE)
Guangdong Sports [aka ¹ã¶«ÌåÓý] (PPLIVE)
Shanghai Sports [aka G-Sports ÉϺ£ÌåÓý̨] (PPLIVE, PPSTREAM, SOPCAST)

GUAYRE! 1-0 Villarreal!

Of all people, Guayre! The guy who's apparently leaving the club!

I have never seen him play TBH, where is he from?

Youve never seen him play?!?!? He came over from Las Palmas, he looked like a great prospect and Villarreal spent some money on him. However he floundered and never really reached his potential. On las palmas, he was great.


GRANDE VILLARREAL!!!

Congratulations Villarreal, first in the group against all the odds!! A great day for Spanish football.


Asi se hace cabrones!!!!!!!!!!

I am really happy that they qualified.

Asi se hace cabrones indeed!

Me gusta veros alli, ojala le pegueis al far$a.. anyway, I think that Villarreal deserves to be where they are, and most importantly.. they were the first in the group, ahead of MANCHESTER (who did not qualify) and ahead of Benfica (a well established team).. Villarreal is doing great things.

FT Villarreal 1-0 Lille

BOO YA! What now, Puel? Oh yeah, I remember, he said something like "it'll be us and Manchester United to go through." Hmm...wouldn't trust him if you're a gambling man.

And we're through to the knock-out stages along with Benfica. Wouldn't have it any other way.

I was very impressed with Guayre today by the way. He threatened consistently while he was in. I think he should start our next game over Jose Mari and see what happens. If he decides to stay and maybe he hits form, that'll be good for everyone. Forlan also had a great first half, put in some solid effort, had a few good chances and a couple of good shots as well. He moved well, read the game well, overall had a great game. Looks like his injury will no longer plague him, I hope.

Lille never really had a chance, their attacks were very disorganized while ours were much more fluid and intelligent. Near the end, I think Josico had the ball on the 18...man he should have pulled a move and taken a shot, that would have been awesome if he scored. We were already up 1-0, Riquelme would probably have done that.

Anyway, fine performances from our side from everyone, though I think booking Riquelme for time-wasting was just stupid. But whatever, ref was pretty fair throughout. Pretty good game, I enjoyed it.

Cheers guys, I couldn't be prouder. I'd be jumping up and down, but I have a cold so if I did something like that I might fall over and get a concussion or something.

xyrus where did u watch it?

It was on the G-Sports channel (starts with a capital accented E) on PPStream. I've quit using PPLive whenever I can avoid the thing, it's too much of a hassle.