Group G round-up

Pires: Scored twice

Related links

Teams

• Lazio
• Villarreal

Also see

• Sky Sports experts
• Transfer Centre
• Fantasy Football
• Sky Sports Twitter

Villarreal boosted their prospects of qualifying from Group G by thrashing Lazio, while Red Bull Salzburg are on the brink of the last 32 of the Europa League.

A tasty encounter at El Madrigal saw Villarreal crush Lazio 4-1, with Robert Pires on target twice and both sides having a man sent off in the first half.

With just one minute 50 seconds on the clock, Lazio found themselves behind in comical circumstances. Pires whipped in a long-range free-kick which was missed by everyone in the area, including team-mates Joseba Llorente and Nilmar, before bouncing into the corner.

Worse was soon to follow for Lazio who were down to 10 men after just three minutes. Roberto Baronio flung his left arm in the direction of Llorente's face and although contact looked minimal, Llorente threw himself to the floor in dramatic fashion.

It was an embarrassing reaction from the striker but enough to convince referee Knut Kircher, who produced a red card despite Lazio's protests.

Villarreal quickly took advantage of their numerical superiority, Cani collecting a pass from Pires and creating enough space for himself to fire into the bottom corner from just outside the area.

And barely a minute later it was 3-0 as Modibo Diakite was penalised for a foul on Nilmar and Pires scored from the spot, despite goalkeeper Albano Bizzarri getting a hand to the ball.

Lazio wasted a glorious chance to get back into the game after Gonzalo Rodriguez brought down Tommaso Rocchi as he bore down on goal and, as the last defender, could have few complaints to see referee Kircher brandishing a red card.

That meant both sides were down to 10 men but Pasquale Foggia was unable to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot, smashing a left-foot shot against the bar.

Lazio had brought on Mauro Zarate after 52 minutes and the Argentinian striker gave his team hope of an unlikely comeback when he fired home following Pereira Eliseu's pass.

But Villarreal made sure of the win with a fourth goal after 82 minutes when Stefano Mauri was penalised for bringing down Cani and substitute Giuseppe Rossi calmly slotted home from the spot.

Franz Schiemer scored an injury-time goal as Salzburg won 1-0 away to 10-man Levski Sofia to maintain their 100 per cent record in the group.

Levski were down to 10 men on 62 minutes when Georgi Sarmov was sent off for hauling down Dusan Svento following a mistake by goalkeeper Georgi Petkov.

And just when it seemed each side would finish with a point, Salzburg struck in the fourth minute of stoppage-time. Christian Schwegler crossed from the left for Schiemer to finish with a header to the bottom left corner of the net.