(Football news) In one of the most shocking results in the tournament so far, Spanish club Villarreal defeated German giants Bayern Munich 1-0 at the Estadio de la Ceramica in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. A goal by Arnaut Danjuma in the eighth minute was enough to secure the slender advantage and it could have been worse for the German champions as the hosts had an effort ruled out for offside and struck the post through Gerard Moreno.
Unai Emery’s team could not have asked for a better start as they took the lead in the eighth minute through Danjuma when on-loan midfielder Giovani Lo Celso cut the ball back into the area and Daniel Parejo's shot was diverted by Danjuma into the bottom corner. Bayern also had a scoring opportunity through Serge Gnabry but he was denied with a well-timed tackle by Raul Albiol.
The stadium erupted once again when an attempted cross by Francis Coquelin went into the back of the net but it was deemed offside by referee Anthony Taylor after a VAR check. Bayern’s performance was so poor that they failed to register a shot on target. In the second half, Thomas Muller almost scored but his shot was inches away from the target while Villarreal almost doubled their advantage when Moreno hit the post.
Bayern brought on Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka for Gnabry and Muller in the 66th minute. The visitors managed to get their first effort on target through Alphonso Davies who fired his shot directly to goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli. Despite making repeated attempts towards the end of the match, Bayern simply couldn’t create clear cut opportunities while Alfonso Pedraza fired wide for Villarreal in the 87th minute.
Speaking after the match, Villarreal manager Unai Emery said “We are here to try to compete and reach the semi-finals. We are not going to dwell on how well we played today, that we have won and that we have competed and been better against Bayern. I am happy but cautious. We have 90 minutes left and I want to beat Bayern, knowing that it is very difficult. And if I don't beat them I'm not going to be satisfied, I'm going to be frustrated, regardless of whether we played a good game today."
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