Villarreal shootout hero Gero Rulli admits he couldn't have imagined how the Europa League final panned out.

Rulli converted his own spotkick before denying David de Gea's to see Villarreal defeat Manchester United on penalties in Gdansk.

He beamed: "When it came to my spot-kick I simply didn't think about it because that would have been the worst! I just shot with all the force left in my body after a night like that. Really, I've no idea what I did. All I was conscious of was that it went in. What an end to a tremendous season. Not in my absolute wildest dreams did I ever imagine winning a penalty shoot out like that for a trophy like this.

"To score the last one for us and save the last one from them..... never. What I do, every game, is just prepare myself the best I can and give all I've got."

Meanwhile, Villarreal president Fernando Roig joked: "That was a terrifying experience. At least I didn't have to play and I only had to suffer from a distance. Now there are five Spanish teams in the Champions League next season and that's a great day not only for the country but for our Valencian community. For Villarreal this is a giant step forward - in football and financial terms."