With home advantage, Tottenham proactively deployed their formation to attack from the first minutes and quickly achieved worthy results.
In the 4th minute, coach Thomas Frank's team opened the scoring thanks to a surprising counter-attack by Villarreal goalkeeper Luiz Junior.
In a typical counter-attack, Kudus took the lead by passing to Bergvall. This young player launched a seemingly harmless cross, but Luiz Junior made a serious mistake, catching the ball without sticking to it, causing it to slip away and roll over the goal line.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium stands burst into tears, despite the goal coming in a somewhat ugly way. Because this match marked the first time the "Roosters" returned to the Champions League, after a season of having to accept playing in the Europa League.
On the contrary, after conceding the goal, Villarreal rose up to attack fiercely. However, their shots were inaccurate or Tottenham's defense neutralized them. The home team also had a few more opportunities but could not take advantage of them successfully.
The first half ended with only one goal. Entering the second half, the game situation did not change much. Villarreal continued to attack overwhelmingly but were helpless, while Tottenham actively retreated deep to defend and lurked for counter-attack opportunities.
In the end, Spurs ended the opening match of the 2025-2026 Champions League with an important 1-0 victory, thereby temporarily rising to 5th place in the rankings. Meanwhile, Villarreal fell to 34/36 teams, facing great pressure right from the start of the campaign.
