Everton 1 Villareal 2: Everton spent last season defying the natural order at the top of the Premiership, though they will have to conjure something just as startling if they are not to be denied passage into the money-flushed Champions League and be cast instead into the Uefa Cup.
A pair of wondrous goals nullified their eager industry here last night, the brace conceded during the first half securing Villarreal, La Liga's surprise package last season, what is likely to prove a critical advantage to defend at El Madrigal in a fortnight. Defending at home, as Everton are likely to discover, is something Manuel Pellegrini's team do rather well.
There was still plenty to encourage the hosts here, not least the visitors' vulnerability in the air. David Moyes wrought heroics from this side last term. He will have to do so again to the tune of victory by two clear goals if England are to stand a chance of supplying an unprecedented five clubs to the Champions League.
The thrill of returning to Europe's elite competition for the first time in 34 years had in no way been dampened by this daunting draw. The ear-splitting din prior to kick-off was an outpouring of three decades of frustration, the chance to make amends in kind for the damage caused to this club, through no fault of their own, by the continental ban on English sides after the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985.
The locals wailed in frustration at the Spaniards' time-wasting and were riled by the Norwegian official's clampdown on anything vaguely physical but there was a gusto to the supporters' wall of sound which initially appeared to unsettle the visitors.
The tackles snapped, space eked out among the luminous yellow visitors' shirts, but the loose ball too often cannoned dangerously across the Spanish goal-line as Everton strained to conjure a finish. Alessandro Pistone and Kevin Kilbane combined neatly down the left only for the Italian's cross to be missed by Simon Davies in the centre.
For a period Villarreal quaked but there is resilience to this team. This may have been their first venture in the Champions League proper but they have pedigree after semi-final and quarter-final appearances in the Uefa Cup over the last two seasons.
Everton were coping well until Marcos Senna slipped Luciano Figueroa beyond David Weir as the half-hour approached. The Scot forced the Argentinian wide but the former Birmingham striker belted a wonderful finish low across Nigel Martyn.
That hesitancy in Everton's defence showed again on the stroke of half-time when Juan Pablo Sorin found space down the right to fling over a centre which Josico powered beyond Martyn with a thunderous diving header.
It shattered much of the hope generated by James Beattie's equaliser sandwiched between the visitors' goals.
Everton's goal was an indication of how best to erode the Spanish. The debutant Phil Neville's cross was optimistic but a mixture of Gonzalo Rodriguez and Beattie sent the ball spiralling high on the edge of the six-yard box. With Mariano Barbosa, static on his goal-line and clearly wary in the air, the former England striker reacted first, as Rodolfo Arruabarrena closed in, and poked the loose ball into the corner.
Such aerial fragility invited Duncan Ferguson's introduction. Ferguson duly won his first header, though it was his fellow substitute Marcus Bent who might have forced parity only for Enrique Alvarez's outstretched foot to scramble the ball clear.
EVERTON: Martyn, Hibbert, Yobo, Weir, Pistone (McFadden 80), Cahill, Arteta, Neville, Davies, Kilbane (Ferguson 62), Beattie (Bent 63). Subs Not Used: Wright, Kroldrup, Li Tie, Osman. Booked: Hibbert. Goals: Beattie 42.
VILLARREAL: Barbosa, Rodriguez, Quique Alvarez, Javi Venta, Arruabarrena, Riquelme, Josico, Senna, Sorin (Pena 89), Forlan (Guayre 85), Figueroa (Tacchinardi 65). Subs Not Used: Lopez Vallejo, Hector Font, Kromkamp, Valencia. Booked: Forlan, Figueroa, Rodriguez, Riquelme. Goals: Figueroa 27, Josico 45.
Referee: Tom Ovrebo (Norway).
