Advantage Arsenal

The Londoners, who beat Real Madrid and Juventus in the previous two rounds, extended their own competition record to nine successive games without conceding a goal. The winners will play Barcelona or AC Milan in the Paris final on May 17 with the Spaniards leading 1-0 after Tuesday8217;s match at the San Siro.

Arsenal, whose fluent play was orchestrated by a superb performance from Brazilian midfielder Gilberto, rarely looked like conceding but for all their slick passing found Villarreal8217;s reshuffled defence a tough nut to crack.

With injuries ruling out centre back pairing Gonzalo Rodriguez and Juan Manuel Pena, the Spaniards began nervously with Cesar Arzo booked after just two minutes for a wild tackle on Mathieu Flamini.

The resultant free kick, floated in by Thierry Henry, was not cleared and Toure shot wide with the goal at his mercy.

Arsenal pressed strongly in the opening exchanges. Their Swiss defnder Philippe Senderos headed over from a corner and Henry8217;s slick finish was then harshly ruled out for offside. Villarreal, in only their second season of European competition, weathered the storm and came back into the game with playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme testing Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann for the first time with a long range free kick. After a bright start the home side8217;s up-tempo game failed to create any clear openings as a succession of one-touch passes into crowded areas came to nothing. One light-hearted moment amid the tension saw referee Konrad Plautz briefly stop the game as a squirrel wandered around the pitch before leaving the stadium to the amusement of the crowd. The return leg is at El Madrigal on Tuesday. 8211;Mike Collett

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