Villarreal pay for their defensive errors in the friendly match played in Italy
Villarreal fell 3-1 to FC Internazionale in the friendly played at the Estadio Riviera delle Palme, in a well disputed match, where the Yellows ended paying for their mistkes in defence. Eder put the Italian side in front, then Soldado equalized for the Yellows just before the break. In the second half, Jovetic and Brozovic sentenced the match though.
Fran Escribá decided to try out a different formation (4-3-3), taking advantage of preseason to try out some different things. In a very even first half, both teams fought for possession of the ball, which proved difficult due to the back and forth play. For this reason, both teams started to play more directly, playing balls over the top of the defence. As a result, the first chance of the game fell to Eder, after he brought down a long ball but his shot from outsdie the box was deflected wide. The Yellows response was immediate, Castillejo put in a great ball from a wide free kick but Víctor Ruiz did not connect well enough with the ball in the six yard box.
In what was a midfield battle of a match, the Italian side opened the scoirng after a defensive error as Candreva broke free down the right wing and put in a cross for Eder, who got to the ball first in the box and powered it past Andrés Fernández. The Submarine got better and better as the game went on though and just before the break bagged themselves a well deserved equalizer. Sansone controlled the ball on the edge of the box and shot straight at Handanovic who saved the ball, but Soldado jumped on the rebound and blasted it into the back of the net.
The second half continued the same as the first, with little space to play in and the onset of fatigue due to the high temperaturas. Nevertheless, Inter won the ball back from a Villarreal attack and caught the Yellows off guard with a counter which Jovetic finished off with a brilliant goal that struck the top corner of the net.
Manu Trigueros came close to getting the equalizer towards the end of the match but his shot flew just over the bar. Then, with the game almost over, Brozovic sentenced the friendly by slotting a first time shot past Barbosa as he got on the end of a through ball that split the Yellows defence.
Lineups:
FC Internazionale: Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, Skriniar, Miranda, Nagatomo; Borja Valero, Gagliardini; Candreva, Joao Mario, Perisic; and Eder.
Subs: Brozovic for Candreva (46’), Kondogbia for Gagliardini (46’), Murillo for Miranda (63’), Jovetic for Eder (63’), Ansaldi for D’Ambrosio (63’), Icardi for Perisic (71’), Gabriel for Borja Valero (71’) and Ranocchia for Skrinia (79’).
Villarreal CF: Andrés Fernández; Mario, Bonera, Víctor Ruiz, Rukavina; Rodrigo, Manu Trigueros, Pablo Fornals; Castillejo, Sansone and Soldado.
Subs: Barbosa for Andrés Fernández (46’), Bakambu for Sansone (67’), Enes Ünal for Soldado (67’), Soriano for Fornals (67’), Álvaro for Bonera (75’), Semedo for Víctor Ruiz (75’), Leo Suárez for Castillejo (81’), Pau Francisco for Mario (81’) and Chuca for Rodrigo (86’).
Goals: 1-0: Eder (25’). 1-1: Soldado (39’). 2-1: Jovetic (66’). 3-1: Brozovic (89’).
Referee: Michael Fabbri. Cautioned: Víctor Ruiz and Semedo.
Information: Preseason friendly match played at the Estadio Riviera delle Palme, in front of 15,000 spectators.
