Villarreal stunned six-time European Cup winners Bayern Munich with a deserved 1-0 win after creating a hatful of chances in a frantic Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.
In the end Nigerian-born Dutch forward Arnaut Danjuma's eighth minute strike gave Unai Emery's side a slender lead for the second leg at the Allianz Arena in Munich next Tuesday.
Villarreal took the game to Bayern and should probably have won by a larger margin given their clear opportunities.
The Europa League holders suffocated Julian Nagelsmann’s team, who struggled to find their touch in the final third, and were a constant menace to keeper Manuel Neuer on the counter.
Villarreal had a Francis Coquelin effort chalked off by VAR for offside while Gerard Moreno almost scored twice - first with a long-range strike that hit the post and later trying to lob Neuer with an effort from inside his own half that went wide.
Danjuma and Alfonso Pedraza wasted two clear chances in the last few minutes, missing the target from inside the area.
"Our team is very hungry and humble," man-of-the-match Giovani Lo Celso told Movistar Plus. "But we faced one of the best teams in the world and we go out with the sensation that we should have scored several more goals.
"We knew that we needed to shorten the field for them - they are a team that can’t have spaces to work the ball. We played our game, we are a team that always try to be the protagonist and we had a lot of opportunities to win by a bigger margin."
Villarreal coach Unai Emery has won a record four Europa League titles - three with Sevilla - and his current side look to have inherited his DNA and adapted it to the Champions League in their efforts to compete toe-to-toe with the leading clubs.
They eliminated Juventus in the last 16 and have now shocked Bayern, who were unbeaten in this year's competition and tasted their first Champions League defeat away from home since 2017.
The build-up to Villarreal's winner started with Moreno, who is the heart and soul of the Yellow Submarine.
He received the ball close to the right touchline and played it through to Lo Celso whose low cross was struck first time by Dani Parejo. Neuer looked to have it covered but Danjuma got there first and stroked the ball home from close range.
A hat-trick by veteran striker Karim Benzema, including two fine headed goals in the space of three first-half minutes, earned Real Madrid a 3-1 win at reigning European champions Chelsea in their quarterfinal first leg.
Benzema, 34, claimed his hat-trick when he pounced on an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy just after half-time to put the Spaniards in control of the tie before Tuesday's second leg in Madrid.
Kai Havertz had restored some hope to the Blues when he headed in an angled pass from Jorginho in the 40th minute to make it 2-1.
But Chelsea's chances of a comeback were undone by Mendy's mistake in the 46th minute when, outside his box, he tried to pass to Antonio Rudiger only for Benzema to intercept and steer the ball into an empty net for his 37th goal of the season.
The France striker rocked Chelsea when he converted pinpoint crosses with headers, first from Vinicius Jr from the left in the 21st minute and then from Luka Modric on the right in the 24th, leaving Mendy with no chance on either occasion.
Benzema had looked certain to claim his hat-trick just before half-time but he fired wide with Chelsea's usually rock-solid defence looking ragged.
"They're very important goals. I'm happiest to have scored the third as I missed one in the first half and I was thinking about that chance because it's very important to score goals. Then I got another and I’m very happy," Benzema told Spanish television.
