Playing their last pre-season exhibition match, the Black Eagles faced La Liga’s formidable Villarreal in the annual Ceremice Estrella Damm Cup final in Spain last night and, after a 2-2 regulation draw, went down 6-5 on penalty kicks.

The host Spaniards made a quick start into the 11th Ceremice Estrella Damm Cup final and created a flurry of chances early on but could not beat Beşiktaş’s newly signed, young keeper Cenk Gönen, who kept them at bay with a series of superb saves. As the half progressed, despite a constant Villarreal pressure, the Black and White managed to gain a foothold in the match and unexpectedly took the lead during a counterattack when Bobo converted Guti’s 32nd-minute pass with an immaculate precision. While the Spanish were still trying to recover, Quaresma increased Beşiktaş’s advantage to 2-0 at the 40th-minute mark to announce the scoring for the first half.
 
Both sides opted to play the second half with their reserve players. Sitting on a two-goal cushion, the Black and White slowed the pace down in the early exchanges and even found a couple of golden opportunities to extend their lead, but Holosko failed to capitalise on them. From the 60th minute on, Villarreal regained the upper-hand as they began to pound Beşiktaş’s goal with threatening crosses. Their tactic appeared to have worked when Cani pulled one back on 77 minutes. Altidore would bring the teams on level terms three minutes later and send the final into penalty kicks. After Ekrem Dağ missed the Eagles’ 6th penalty, the home side won the penalty shootout 6-5 and took the cup.