Ibagaza proud to prove Villarreal's pedigree

Ariel Ibagaza declared himself "happy about my contribution" as he scored one goal and set up the winner in Villarreal CF 's tight 2-1 win at Panathinaikos FC, which confirmed their last-eight place.

Proud man
The 32-year-old Ibagaza showed why he was selected ahead of Frenchman Robert Pirès by scoring one goal and setting up a decisive second for substitute Joseba Llorente as the Yellow Submarine secured a 3-2 aggregate success. "I'm very happy about my contribution," the diminutive midfielder told uefa.com. "I scored the first goal and fortunately for us Llorente has managed to score from my pass for the second. The most important thing, though, is that we qualified and it makes me happy and proud that we are one of the best eight teams in Europe."

Experience vital
Manuel Pellegrini's side reached the last four on their debut in Europe's élite competition in 2005/06, going out to Arsenal FC, and remain on course to emulate that despite going into Tuesday's game with a minor disadvantage having conceded an away goal in the 1-1 first-leg draw. "To tell the truth it was a difficult situation, it was a very even tie and in the first half there weren't many chances for either side," added Ibagaza, "but we knew we had to score and the first goal came at a key moment, just after half-time. Panathinaikos came back at us straight away which made things even more complicated but again we managed to get back in front at a good moment on the break. I think our experience showed."

Great atmosphere
Villarreal showed their class with a calm display despite facing an incredible wall of noise from the 60,000 sell-out crowd at the OACA Spiros Louis Stadium. "As I always say the crowd doesn't play in the game, and although it was a great atmosphere we never gave the crowd much thought," explained Ibagaza. "All we were thinking about was winning the match and getting through." He added: "At this stage of the completion the best eight teams are all there so you can be drawn against anyone, but if we carry on like this we can do good things in this competition. Maybe we can even reach the final."