Moyesy says:"The tie is far from over. We have seen what can happen in football. Just a couple of months ago showed that. We will go there and give it a go and try to win the game. The tie is still alive. There is still 90 minutes to go. We will need to score two there but it is an adventure for us and you never know, the second leg could turn out very well for us. In the main the players were fantastic. We will learn from it. They had a season last year in the UEFA Cup which I am sure will have helped them and they will have gained experience from that. But on another night things may have dropped a little but better for us. We put them under pressure and that could have been our night and we could have scored goals from that pressure.

It wasn't to be and there weren't many clear cut chances in the game. Even their two goals were not really clear cut chances, so it was a game with chances few and far between. We played in a typical up and at them way which was a bit direct and British. But that is the way we set out to do it and there is no doubting it worried them and we got some joy from it. But you can also see that if you give them time and space they can cut you up. You have to try and get players of that ability but you also have to try and stop them when they have the ball. We did quite well at doing that, but not quite as well as I would have liked. Conceding the second goal really killed us. It was in the 46th or 47th minute in injury time after we had got back in the game.

The boy scored from a header from 16 yards. He could try to do that again 20 or 30 times and he might not be able to do it again. If anything, at that time I thought we were the team that was looking like nicking another one before half-time. To lose a goal at that point I think ourselves and everybody in the ground realised the difficulty of the job. But at half-time we told the players to keep going for it and to keep trying to get the goals and to be fair to them they did that."

Davie Weir says: "We gave it a massive effort, all fairness to the boys - we gave it all in the second half. We're still in the tie and we'll give it everything we've got. They're a clever team, they've done it before and this is our first time in Europe. We're never happy losing, but we put up a good fight."

Villarreal's coach Manuel Pellegrini says: "I am happy with our performance - the match went according to plan. We knew Everton would be powerful and physical but we matched a very tough rival. The victory was very important, but we have to be conscious that it is not finished. But there is still another game against a side that can turn this around. Because of their aerial play and their physical side they can always score a goal so nothing is finished yet."

*

Defo out are Nace and Cars. Doubts remain over Kroldrop, Osman and Bent. Phil Neville will make his Everton debut. Biffa will lead the line. Big Dunc will frighten Villarreal with 20 minutes to go.

Moyesy says: "It is like Christmas Eve and you know what that feels like. I am excited and I can't wait for the game to come. We want to get into the game because it is something we worked so hard for last year. You hear so many teams this year talking about wanting to qualify for Europe. Well Everton have done that, not only by finishing fifth or sixth but by finishing fourth. Today makes us realise what a great achievement that was. It was the players who earned this with their performances on the pitch last season. It is the players who have taken us here.

For such an important game it comes at a time when you can't tell if you are ready or not. You are having to judge your form on the pre-season games and you are looking at the players to see if they are fit and ready. But we have had a good pre-season, we have done different things and the players are starting look like they are close to full fitness. We are ready."

Captain Killa says: "It is an understatement to call it a big game. It is a huge game and one we have to be ready for. It is usually two or three Premier League games before you are really at full fitness, so for this match we will have to go that extra bit. We may not be quite there yet but we have to push ourselves to a level we would normally be looking to get to a few weeks into the season. This is a big chance for us. We are saying we may not be ready, but Villarreal are in the same boat. Their season starts a couple of weeks after ours and they have not been back as long as us. We have got to try and make that count. We have got to start well.

This is my biggest game at club level. It is a massive game for me personally. I am really looking forward to it and it is even up there with some of the international games I have played because you know there is a big reward just around the corner waiting for you. We haven't got a lot of Champions League experience in the team but hopefully because we are all fresh to this sort of environment that will be a good thing for us.

We know their quality. They have some wonderful players, but we have got good players in our team and we are very, very confident that we can win this match. I am sure they will come to Goodison and try to stop us playing. They will try to spoil the game and slow it down but we can't let that happen. We have to get the crowd on our side and make that count. We have to make it an intimidating atmosphere and if we can start well and get the crowd up that is how it will be. The fans can be a massive factor for us. It is a tight ground at Goodison, the pitch is close to the supporters and for a night game it is something to behold.

Any win is good enough. If we win this game we know we will have something to take to Spain and hold on to. We have to have the belief we can go and do that first and foremost. We are not just happy to be in the qualifying stages. We are passionate about the fact we are not there yet and the reward is just around the corner. Everybody realises we are not there yet but if we win over the two legs we will be where we want to be. We have to remember we are not quite in the Champions League. The big game is here now but we have to make it count. We have to say we are Champions League players, this is a Champions League club and hopefully after these two legs we will prove it. The squad is all the better for the three signings we have made. Phil Neville has Champions League experience, Per Kroldrup is an international defender and Simon Davies has played magnificently well for Wales and Tottenham over the last few years. They are big signings and I am sure over the next few years they will do well for us."

Club Captain, Davie Weir says: “It’s a familiar scenario, isn’t it? A factor in our success last season was that we were being written off. We weren’t good enough for fourth, we were no more than hard workers, we’d never cope without Wayne and Gravesen. You shouldn’t need extra motivation in football but we got some, we wanted to shut people up. By the end of the season we were crawling over the line a little, but we did it: we were fourth in September and fourth in May and you can’t argue with that.

It was a massive achievement and we had to do it against a backdrop of all these negative things. Well, here we are again. There’s going to be such hunger on Tuesday. It’s up to us to make a mark on the game. Everyone’s saying we’ve got no chance against Villarreal and we ’re going to get rolled over. So we’ve got to back ourselves and treat it as one more challenge. Everyone has different motivations, but for whatever reason I think every player here needs to play. Previously in my time at Everton, and maybe I shouldn’t say this, but there were players here who didn’t need to play, or even want to play.

The pre-season matches were learning experiences for the Champions League. Fenerbahce was about the travelling, build-up and atmosphere of playing a big team abroad. Hopefully it was a dress rehearsal, except for the result. We finished fourth in the League and what’s happened since? We’ve kept more or less the same squad which achieved it and signed three more quality players. When you get beyond all the spin and nonsense there’s a lot to be positive about. The ‘bad summer’ has been talked up due to the transfer stories, and perhaps those haven’t been played too well. Fans have got their hopes up because we’ve been linked with good players, then those players go somewhere else, so where do fans turn their frustrations?

But if we qualify for the Champions League, it won’t matter who’s been signed and who’s not. I can’t wait to see what Tuesday’s like. After we qualified we got beat 7-0 by Arsenal and went from a massive high to a massive low. Since then it doesn’t really feel like we’ve had the chance to appreciate that thing we’d been striving towards, and it’s only now that it’s felt real again. Villarreal’s a celebration for us, the chance to give the players the enjoyment we didn’t get back in May.”

Biffa Beattie says: "There is a feeling that we are Champions' League players now. The lads deserve tremendous credit for what they achieved last season and within the club, and within the game, they have got it. I've spoken to a lot of players from other Premiership clubs this summer who have been delighted at what Everton have done and have wished us all the best for getting into the Champions' League. They are pleased another club have shown the way. I don't think anybody expected me to settle in immediately anyway, though. That is the feedback I've been getting from the fans, they seem to regard me as a new player for this season and with this qualifier against Villarreal and getting into the group stage of the Champions' League it is a very important time. People are looking at me as a new signing and that's how I regard myself. It was the highlight of my career when I signed for Everton and I know if I can stay fit I will score goals. The rest will take care of itself."

Yobo says: "I have always lost out on playing European football in the past. I left Standard Liege after they qualified for Europe to go to Marseille and I left them after they qualified for Europe, so I have always missed out. I am looking forward to it but it is no different than any other big game I have played in. I like the big games and the big challenges to test myself. I will give it my best shot and hope my best is good enough. But my own performance, while it will help a lot, is not the most important thing. I just want to see Everton win.

A clean sheet would be good but as our first experience in Europe we just want to win. All we need to do is that because winning the game will mean we will go there knowing a draw will be enough. Winning the game is more important for me than playing for a 0-0 and going there with a draw. I would rather go there with a lead and have a scrappy draw over there. My style of game is not like an outright English player and I have played in two European countries before and their style of play is very different and I am very used to it so I think it is going to help me a lot. The continental strikers are tougher to play against. In the Premiership against average teams you can guess where the ball is going to go. But the good foreign teams pass the ball around, they don't go direct and it is hard to know when they are going to pass or shoot.

I have watched them play a couple of times and there is no doubt they are a very good side. We will respect them but we will go out there knowing if we do our job we have a chance of winning the game. We will make it tough for them because as a Spanish side they love playing the ball and if you give them the confidence to pass the ball around they can really hurt you. We will aim to hurt them and stop them playing their usual game. The friendly matches against Fenerbahce and Udinese were good games to play because they are good European club sides and there will not be a big difference from what we are going to see from Villarreal. There has been a step up in training over the last week and obviously with the games coming up the aerobic work had been reduced and we are all looking forward to the game. We have worked very hard towards this opening day and we are all looking forward to it. We are ready and we have learned the lessons from the two friendly games in the last couple of weeks."

Fitness coach Dave Billows says: "From a physical point of view we have built up a really good fitness base of strength and power. All we are working on now is speed and agility to get the lads sharp, which they will need to be against a side as technically good as Villarreal. As we saw against Fenerbahce last week, they were moving it around quickly and their boys were sharp. They were a week or two ahead of us, which showed in the game. We weren't as sharp but we hadn't done much work on sharpness, which is what we have been doing since. Right up to the Villarreal game and beyond that we will be working on sharp movements of the ball, speed and agility. Hopefully that will help give them what they need because they are playing a team that is going to be passing and moving the ball a lot and so the lads have got to be quick to deal with them.

We change the sessions as often as we can to keep them interesting but we break the sessions down into component parts of what we think the players need. We look at the kind of game we think it is going to be and the movements needed in that kind of game and try to mimic that on the training field. We set up drills which use the muscles in the right way so when they get in the real situation it is comfortable for them and easy to deal with.

There is stuff to be learned from everywhere. Whenever we play teams I watch how the other side warms up. I also like to look how things are done in other sports. The United States is good for that because they are very forward thinking and innovative. I like to look at basketball and American Football for ideas because there are always things from those different sports which can be utilised by us in our football training."

Everton (from): Martyn, Wright, Hibbert, Kroldrop, Yobo, Weir, Pistone, Neville, Davies, Cahill, Li Tie, Osman, Arteta, Kilbane, McFadden, Beattie, Bent, Ferguson, Vaughan.

Kipper's Everton XI To Start: Martyn, Hibbert, Yobo, Kroldrop, Pistone, Davies, Arteta, Neville, Cahill, Kilbane, Beattie.

Lavo's Bet: £10 Everton Half Time / Full Time (7/2)

Moyesy On Villarreal says: "Villarreal are a terrific side. To finish third in La Liga behind Barcelona and Real Madrid tells you exactly how good they are. You only have to look at this week and the fact Newcastle were knocked out of the Intertoto Cup by Deportivo, who actually finished below Villarreal in the table last year. That puts it in perspective and tells you exactly how difficult the draw is. With the possible exception of Inter Milan we couldn't have got a harder draw, but I think they are thinking the same.

We have had two games against strong continental opposition in the last couple of weeks. It was good to get a result against Udinese last week, but I believe we learned more from going to Fenerbahce. That defeat made us realise that to play at that level against a side which regularly qualifies for the Champions League group stages you have to be very good. Villarreal are at a similar level to Fenerbahce in terms of their ability. Because they are knew to the Champions League I couldn't ring Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger to ask them about them. But I was able to speak to Steve Harrison from Middlesbrough. They played them in the UEFA Cup last season and he was able to fill me in with a few details.

Diego Forlan is a threat. He had a great season in Spain. There is no doubting his quality, even if he didn't hit the heights in England. We know he can score with both feet and he is very confident. I am not surprised at how well he has done because he is a top international striker. But sometimes there are countries where your football is better suited, and Spain seems to suit him better than England. We are very aware Juan Riquelme is the player they rely on an awful lot. Most of their play will go through him and the final pass tends to be made by Riquelme. He is deadly from set-pieces and he has different clubs in his bag. But we are aware of him and the players are. We have been a bit different with our preparations because the game has come early. But it is early for Villarreal as well."

Riquelme says: "Nobody needs to tell us what is at stake, everyone knows how important it is and we are all very motivated. I don't know what Everton are going to do because I never pay much attention to our opponents. What I worry about is that we play as we know how to. If we can play football like that and the team believes it can do that, then I think we have a really good chance. We'll see if they Everton are the hardest side we could have got or not at the end of the tie. At first glance that could seem to be the case, but we will find out for sure on the pitch.”

VILLARREAL (from)(possible; 4-4-2): M Barbosa — J Venta, G J Rodriguez, Q Alvares, R Arruabarrena — M A Senna Da Silva, A Tacchinardi, J P Sorín, J Riquelme — D Forlán, L Figueroa.