Aston Villa Women played out a six-goal thriller against Villarreal in Spain on Friday evening.
Villa fell two goals behind to their Spanish counterparts early on but battled back with goals from Simone Magill and Georgia Mullett.
Sarah Mayling put her team ahead from the penalty spot early in the second half, before Villarreal rounded off the scoring late on.
Daphne van Domselaar was handed her first start since returning from the FIFA Women’s World Cup, while Sarah Mayling, Anna Patten, Lucy Parker and Dan Turner made up the back four.
Alisha Lehmann, Rachel Corsie, Lucy Staniforth and Maz Pacheco formed the next bank of players in support of Simone Magill and Georgia Mullett.
The game came too soon for Kenza Dali, however.
The French international is in the midst of being reintegrated back into the squad following her World Cup exploits just a matter of weeks ago.
Villarreal got off to the quicker start in Spain and opened the scoring after nine minutes.
Lucy Parker was dispossessed on the edge of her own area and her attempt to regain the ball resulted in Fatou Kanteh tapping into an empty net.
Villa enjoyed more possession in the minutes after the opening goal but went further behind on 22 minutes when Bicho slammed home from inside the area.
But in a rollercoaster first half, Villa were quickly back into contention.
Dan Turner forced a save from the Villarreal goalkeeper, but the ball was only parried as far as Simone Magill who tapped home from close range.
Three minutes later we were back on level terms when Georgia Mullett found the bottom corner from outside the box with ease.
Villa completed an impressive turnaround shortly after the break, this time with Sarah Mayling scoring from the spot.
But Villarreal weren’t to be deterred and added a sixth goal of the game just 10 minutes later.
Both teams battled to the final whistle and, eventually, honours would remain even.
Villa will now return to the UK ahead of their final two pre-season fixtures against Bristol City and Everton.
