Llorente grabbed the winner with 20 minutes remaining for Panathinaikos

A Joseba Llorente strike saw Villarreal edge out Panathinaikos to make the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Ariel Ibagaza put Villarreal, who were held 1-1 at home in the first leg, in the lead when he finished off a fine move with a first-time strike.

Vangelis Mantzios equalised for the Greek side by heading in a corner kick from Giorgos Karagounis.

But from another counter-attack Ibagaza set up substitute Llorente to drill home Villarreal's winner.

The 70th-minute goal seemed to knock the wind out of Pana's sails and the visitors were able to see out the remainder of the match fairly comfortably.

Panathinaikos, who finished above Inter Milan to top their group, needed only a 0-0 draw to advance to the last eight for the first time since 2002.

In front of a sell-out home crowd of over 60,000, they made a confident start and had the better of the chances in the first half.

Gabriel prodded a shot over the crossbar from Dimitris Salpingidis's low cross and Karagounis tested Diego Lopez from a free-kick.

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Their best chance of the half fell to Mantzios, who brought a fine save from Lopez.

Villarreal served notice of their threat, however, when Ibagaza put the ball in the net only to have the goal ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

But the Argentine made no mistake four minutes into the second-half when he curled a shot from the edge of the penalty area past Galinovic.

Pana fought back with a series of corners and they were rewarded for their pressure six minutes later when Mantzios powered a header past Lopez for his fourth goal in six games.

But it was substitute Llorente who had the final say when he made no mistake by finishing off Ibagaza's dinked pass to send the Spanish side through.

Panathinaikos : Galinovic, Nilsson, Vyntra, Sarriegi, Wawrzyniak (Rukavina 86), Silva, Simao, Karagounis, Gabriel (Christodoulopoulos 74), Salpingidis, Mantzios.
Subs Not Used: Tzorvas, David, Spiropoulos, Mattos, Ivanschitz.

Goals : Mantzios 55.

Villarreal : Diego Lopez, Angel (Javi Venta 29), Fuentes, Godin, Capdevila, Santi Cazorla, Senna, Eguren, Ibagaza (Bruno 75), Rossi, Nihat (Llorente 46).
Subs Not Used: Viera, Cygan, Pires, Fernandez.

Booked : Llorente.

Goals : Ibagaza 49, Llorente 70.

Att : 63,150.

Ref : Massimo Busacca (Switzerland).

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