Reigning champions Sevilla into last 8 of Europa League

Reigning Europa League Champions Sevilla moved into the last eight of the competition after knocking fellow Spaniards Villarreal out of the tournament on Thursday night.

Following Sevilla's 3-1 first leg win in Villarreal a week ago many sides would have fielded a side made up of fringe players and given the tie up as lost, however, to Villarreal's credit, coach Marcelino Garcia put out a side looking to get back into the tie with Luciano Vietto and Ikechewuku Uche leading the attack.

Sevilla also fielded a strong side with Kevin Gameiro, Vitolo and Alex Vidal also providing power and pace up front.

The first half saw open football with Vicente Iborra twice denied by Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, while at the other end Mario Gaspar forced a good save from Sergio Rico.

Overall Sevilla looked the more confident side with Gameiro a constant threat in attack, as typified by his attempted overhead kick on the half hour.

With his side needing three goals in the second half, Marcelino, who was watching the game from the stands due to suspension, swapped Uche for Geovani Dos Santos and saw as his side put Sevilla under 15 minutes of concerted pressure without being able to create any clear cut chances.

Sevilla punished them with 20 minutes remaining when Iborra got his reward with a simple tap in after good work by Carlos Bacca, who had just replaced Gameiro, but Geovani got Villarreal right back into things four minutes later with a powerful shot which Rico should perhaps have saved.

That goal left Villarreal needing to score twice to force extra time but their hopes suffered a setback after 65 minutes when Eric Bailly was sent off for a second booking and the tie was decided eight minutes from time when Denis Suarez scored a header to put Sevilla 2-1 ahead on the night and 5-2 on aggregate. Endi