David Villa scored a hat trick Thursday as Valencia drew 4-4 at
Werder Bremen to advance to the quarterfinals of the Europa League
on away goals.
Juan Mata also scored for Valencia, while teammate David
Silva set up three goals and goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez made a series
of great saves to stop Bremen, last year's runner-up when the
competition was known as the UEFA Cup.
Valencia twice squandered two-goal leads before going through
after a 5-5 aggregate score.
Hugo Almeida, Torsten Frings, Marko Marin and Claudio Pizarro
scored for Werder.
Valencia went ahead through Villa in the second minute.
Naldo's clearance was picked off by Silva, who fed Villa on the
left and the Spain striker slotted inside the far post.
Silva's second assist came in the 15th, when his through ball
beat the offside trap and found Mata, who doubled Valencia's lead.
Werder coach Thomas Schaaf then sent on another striker,
Almeida, and the Portuguese pulled one back with a simple tap-in
off Pizarro's low cross in the 26th.
The Bundesliga club wasted half a dozen good chances and was
punished shortly before halftime when Villa connected with a
reverse pass from Silva to find the target.
Marin was fouled by Jordi Alba in the area, and Frings
converted from the spot in the 57th. Marin leveled with a deflected
low shot that went inside the near post after receiving the ball
from Mesut Oezil's free kick.
Sanchez prevented Werder from scoring again when he foiled
Oezil's close-range attempt a couple of minutes later. He also
turned away a good effort by Almeida in the 75th.
The Spanish side struck again in the 65th, Villa finishing a
counterattack with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. But
Pizarro scored with a diving header off Petri Pasanen's floated
free kick in the 84th to make the finish interesting.
