Villarreal beat Bayern Munich for the first time away in the Champions League for almost five years in their quarterfinal first leg at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
Arnaut Danjuma scored the only goal of the game after just eight minutes to lead his team to an improbable 1-0 win.
The better team for most of the contest Villarreal would feel they could have had an even bigger lead ahead of next week’s decisive second leg in Munich.
Bayern, despite their superior European pedigree, struggled to cope with Villarreal’s shape, counter-attacking, and intensity on both sides of the ball.
It was the visitors who carved out early chances in the game though as Benjamin Pavard smashed his shot wide in the 6th minute as Villarreal packed the box to earlier deny Jamal Musiala.
The home side then went in front minutes later.
A slick passing move down their right side led to Giovanni Lo Celso squaring the ball for Danny Parejo with the Spaniard’s shot cum cross falling in the path of Danjuma who easily slotted the ball past a wrong-footed Neuer.
Villarreal could have added to their lead as Bayern seemed to run out of ideas.
Francis Coquelin chipped Neuer from outside the box but his goal was chalked off due to an offside decision by the VAR as the scores remained 1-0 at the half.
Gerard Moreno was guilty of missing several chances in the second half to add to the home side’s advantage.
He was gifted a ball by Manuel Neuer in the 62nd minute but shot wide from his own half with no keeper in the goal before smashing a 25-yard shot against the bottom of the post.
A returning Alphonso Davies threatened Villarreal’s goal in the second half but his effort was easily saved by the keeper.
Beating Bayern away is an achievement itself as Villarreal became the first team in the Champions League to do so since a PSG in 2017 with Unai Emery coincidently coaching that PSG side as well.
Villarreal also broke Bayern’s streak of scoring in 30 consecutive games as the scoreline remained 1-0 till the final whistle.
