Mathijsen injury mars Alkmaar win

AZ Alkmaar coach Co Adriaanse's delight at reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup on Thursday night was tempered by injury to defender Joris Mathijsen, who Adriaanse said would miss the rest of the season after tearing the tendon in his right knee. The news took the gloss off a fine night for the Dutch side, who drew 1-1 with Villarreal CF to advance 3-2 on aggregate and earn a meeting with Sporting Clube de Portugal in the next round. Kenneth Perez put Alkmaar ahead on eight minutes at the Alkmaarderhout, before both sides were reduced to ten men on 21 minutes following the dismissals of Barry Opdam and José Mari Romero. Luciano Figueroa pulled a goal back for the Spanish side with 18 minutes to play, but despite a series of late chances, they could not get the goal that would have forced extra time.

Co Adriaanse, Alkmaar coach
We started the match excellently. We had some dangerous moments before their goal, and scored an important goal through Perez. The turning point came when the two players were sent off, and it became ten against ten. For us that was really bad, because my team consists of eleven separate rings that make one chain. When we play with ten we lose our natural instincts, and some players have to play against their nature, such as [Barry] van Galen on [Marcos] Senna. That's why we were pushed back in the second half against a very good Villarreal side. At the end we were very lucky when [Juan Román] Riquelme's shot hit the post. We really had an angel guarding our goal. The bad news is the injury to Mathijsen and the red card to Opdam which means we will also miss him in the semi-final. Mathijsen has gone straight to hospital with what appeared to be a torn tendon in his [right] knee. He underwent surgery right away. I don't know the details, but his season is over. For us it's now a battle on two fronts, finishing second [in the Eredivisie] and earning UEFA Champions League qualification is just as important as winning the UEFA Cup. We will not put one target in front of the other.

Manuel Pellegrini, Villarreal coach
I want to congratulate Alkmaar on their qualification for the semi-finals, although for us it is sad. We did everything we could, and we were close, but in the end Alkmaar won it. I think they have an excellent team, and now that we have been knocked out I hope they continue and win their semi-final.