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Europa League

Villarreal secured their place in the last 32 of the Europa League by easing past sorry Levski Sofia.

Villarreal's win, which was secured thanks to goals from Giuseppe Rossi and substitute Marcos Senna, combined with Lazio's 2-1 defeat to group winners Salzburg, means the Yellow Submarine now cannot be caught by the Italian side in the race for a top-two finish.

Although they are three points ahead with one game still to go, Villarreal hold the better head-to-head record against the Romans so the final-round fixtures are now little more than dead rubbers for all four teams.

The Spanish side went into tonight's game on the back of a disappointing defeat at Sporting Gijon in the Primera Division at the weekend, a result which left Ernesto Valverde's side without an away win since beating NAC Breda in the Europa League play-offs back in August.

Travel-shy Villarreal could hardly have asked for a better opponent to face though, with Levski rooted to the foot of the Group G table with no points and no goals from their opening four games.

Joan Capdevila went close for the visitors early on and Rossi then fired another opportunity over before the Italy striker put Villarreal ahead in the 36th minute.

Rossi won a free-kick on on the left which Ariel Ibagaza crossed into the box for the former Manchester United hitman to bury past Levski goalkeeper Bozhidar Mitrev.

With the Bulgarian side causing few problems for the Villarreal defence, it was the visitors who looked the more likely to add to the scoreline and David Fuster saw his effort tipped wide by Mitrev just before the hour mark.

Levski survived on that occasion, but they could not prevent Villarreal adding a second goal six minutes from time to seal the win and, with Salzburg on their way to beating Lazio, ultimately secure a place in the last 32.

Spain international Senna was the goalscorer, firing home from inside the area just five minutes after coming on as a replacement for Rossi.