Villarreal U21s beat Porto and will play in the Final of the Premier League International Cup
Amazing! Villarreal U21s defeated FC Porto in the Semi-finals of the Premier League International Cup (1-2) with goals from Cantalapiedra and Mario, and will fight for the title on 4th May in Manchester (8pm CET) against finalists, PSV Eindhoven. The Yellows beat the strong Portuguese side with their quality and belief, in a clash that was full of class but in which the Submarine had the better chances.
It could not have started any better for Paco López’s side. In the 4th minute, Cantalapiedra made it 1-0 after he got on the end of a perfect through ball and lobbed Sá José, who had no chance. After the break Porto made some substitutions to freshen things up, but it was the Submarine who had the better chances. In the 58th minute, a curling shot from Chuca almost made it 2-0, but his shot fell just wide.
From that point on the Portuguese side started to pressure Paco López’s men to the max. And they soon got their reward for their high pressure, equalizing with a quarter of an hour to go in the match. But Villarreal, despite conceding the goal, stayed calm.
Well organized and playing out from the back, the Yellows started to create chance after chance when, two minutes from time, they got their reward with a very important and timely goal from Mario. With the score 1-2 and hardly any time left, the Yellows held on for the referee to blow his final whistle. Villarreal on to the Final!
Line-ups:
FC Porto: Sá José; Víctor Hernández, Erik Brown, Ismael Leon, Francisco Ramos, Joao Graça, Tomás Podstawski (Gleison Moreira, m. 46), Leonardo Ruiz (Rubén Macedo, m. 70), Rui Moreira, Cláudio Ribeiro (Omar García, m. 46) and Diogo Verdasca.
Villarreal CF: Ander Cantero; Edgar Ié, Javi Ramírez, Marcos Mauro, Juan Ibiza, Larrea, Iván Alejo (Felipe Alfonso, m. 91), Chuca (Ramiro Guerra, m. 81), Alfonso (Mario, m. 78), Carlos Martínez and Aitor Cantalapiedra.
Goals: 1-0. Min. 4: Aitor Cantalapiedra. 1-1. Min. 74: Ismael Leon. 1-2. Min. 89: Mario.
Referee: Elliot Kaye (England). Cautioned: Rui Moreira and Cláudio Ribeiro for Porto.
Further Information: Match in correspondence with the Semi-finals of the Premier League International Cup between FC Porto and Villarreal CF, played at The Den stadium, home of Milwall FC, in London.
