Pellegrini bemoans weakened attack

Villarreal CF coach Manuel Pellegrini blamed the lack of striking options at his disposal for his side's inability to break down Manchester United FC during the goalless draw at El Madrigal that saw both teams progress to the last 16. It leaves the English team top of Group E, and Sir Alex Ferguson believes his charges are now favourites to win the section as their last game is against Aalborg BK at Old Trafford; the Spanish side travel to Celtic FC.

Manuel Pellegrini, Villarreal coach
We achieved our objective and we're through to the next round of the Champions League. Unfortunately, we didn't win and I think that was because we lacked offensive players like Nihat Kahveci, Joseba Llorente and Guille Franco, who wasn't fit to play the full 90 minutes, and Cani. I didn't see what happened for Joan Capdevila's sending off but unfortunately we were left with one player less. Marcos Senna couldn't carry on but Bruno did well in his place. Robert Pirès was also in pain and he came off too but I don't think it was a physical match tonight. The group has been decided, Manchester United are going to be top, Aalborg third and we're second so we have nothing at stake for the last game.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager
Two teams as offensive as us and we haven't scored in four games; I think we're hoping we don't meet them in Rome. In any case, I'm satisfied we're in the next phase of the competition and hopefully we can win the group. We had the better chances tonight and now we have a slight advantage over Villarreal as we play our last game at home and they're away to Celtic. Villarreal have good experience. Some of their players are 30-plus and that shows because they're tactically very good. At home they're a tough side to beat and they played a good match tonight so I think they'll do well in the Champions League. When you see the tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo you can see it was a straight red card as he hit him above the knee. He's got a scratch on the knee but nothing serious. It was a fair red and the referee was very fair. We have a great regard for their goalkeeper, Diego López. He made two marvellous saves from Cristiano Ronaldo and then Wayne Rooney's shot in the second half. That's why it ended 0-0.