Amidst a sea of yellow with hints of blue, visiting team Bayern Munich all the way from Munich, Germany were handed their first loss of the tournament by the Unai Emery-led Spanish team from Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica stadium.
The visiting giants lost the game 1-0 after the home side’s Arnaut Danjuma steered a strike from fellow teammate Dani Parejo in front of German stalwart goalkeeper Manuel Neuer at close range. All this happened before nine minutes of the match had begin.
Chants of the home team vibrated through the stadium pushing down the morale of Bayern Munich and therefore listing their first defeat in the tournament.
This was the first time since 2006 that Villarreal CF won on home soil in the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
Villarreal had defeated Italian giants Juventus 4-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16. Manager Unai Emery has won two consecutive knock-out matches in the Champions League for the first time in his career.
Trends show that Bayern Munich have failed to progress from each of their last five ties in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages when they have lost in the first leg, with four of those five eliminations coming against Spanish teams (Barcelona in 2014-15, Atlético Madrid in 2015-16 and Real Madrid in 2016-17 and 2017-18).
Unai Emery’s side were seen as one of the kindest opponents available in the draw last month, with perhaps only Benfica placed lower than them in the quarter-finals pecking order.
Bayern, nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, up against a Villarreal side who sit seventh in La Liga, 12 points off the top four and into the last eight of the Champions League for the first time since 2009.
Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann said his team ‘deserved’ to lose following their loss. “It’s a deserved defeat, we were not good,” Nagelsmann told DAZN. “In the first half we didn’t have enough energy, we didn’t create chances for ourselves and we surrendered control.”
The defeat ended Bayern’s record run of 22 matches unbeaten away from home in the Champions League.
Six-time European champions Bayern host Villarreal in Munich on April 12. The winners of the tie will play Liverpool or Benfica in the last four.
