Supersub Guayre clinches Villarreal top spot

VILLARREAL clinched a place in the last 16 of the Champions League in their debut season in the competition after they beat Lille 1-0 in their final match in Group D last night.

Substitute Antonio Guayre scored the goal midway through the second half of a delicately balanced encounter at the Madrigal when he sped on to a superb through ball from Hector Font, cut inside keeper Tony Sylva and steered home into the empty net.

The win allowed the Primera Liga side to finish top of the group with 10 points, two ahead of Benfica.

Lille, who scored just one goal in their six group games, finished third for a place in the UEFA Cup.

Werder Bremen crushed Panathinaikos 5-1 in Group C to qualify for the knockout phase.

Bremen finished second behind Barcelona, who beat Udinese 2-0.

The Germans were 3-0 up at half-time through a Johan Micoud penalty and two from Paraguayan Nelson Valdez.

Miroslav Klose had Bremen 4-0 up before Nasief Morris pulled one back for the Greeks. An injury-time strike from Torsten Frings completed the rout.

But the biggest cheers came when Barcelona’s two late goals were flashed up on the stadium screen.

Barca who had already qualified made a few changes to their side but were still too strong for Udinese in Italy.

With five minutes left a goalless draw would have sent Udinese into the last 16 but instead Werder Bremen finished second leaving the Italian side with the consolation of a UEFA Cup spot.

Sergio Ezquerro put the Spanish champions ahead in the 85th minute and then set up substitute Andres Iniesta to score their second goal in the final minute.

Although Barca had little to play for and were without several top players, including European Foootballer of the Year Ronaldinho, they created the best chances - Ludovic Guily hitting the bar and the post during a lively first half.

Alessandro Del Piero scored two goals to help Juventus beat Rapid Vienna 3-1 and keep the Italians at the top of Group A ahead of Bayern Munich, who drew 1-1 in Bruges.

Juventus opened up a 3-0 advantage by half-time, Del Piero with two and Zlatan Ibrahimovic with the other.

Rapid’s Marek Kincl scored a consolation for the home side in the 52nd minute.

In Belgium, Claudio Pizarro opened the scoring Bayern after 21 minutes when he latched onto a Sebastian Deisler free kick but Club Bruges were level 10 minutes later through Spaniard Javier Portillo.

Swiss side Thun secured a spot in the UEFA Cup by holding Sparta Prague to a 0-0 draw in their final Group B match.