Villarreal draw against Sevilla after taking a 0-2 lead with goals from Dani Raba and Carlos Bacca
A bittersweet point from one of the most difficult stadiums to play at in LaLiga. Villarreal drew to Sevilla at the Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium in a match that they went 0-2 up in thanks to goals by Raba and Bacca. The side from Nervión pulled two goals back through Nolito and N’Zonzi late in the second half though. Asenjo saved a penalty and both teams finished the game with ten men, as both Ben Yedder and Jaume Costa were sent off for receiving two yellow cards.
With numerous defenders unavailable for this match, Javi Calleja opted to put Mario Gaspar at right centre back despite his natural position being right full back. The Submarine remained solid at the back and agile in attack. Thus it did not take long for the Yellows to create chances. Rodrigo was the first to strike, but his shot deflected off a Sevilla defender and went wide.
Villarreal had control of the game and knew what they wanted to do. This intuition led them to enjoy several goal scoring opportunities. The best chance for the Yellows was created by Cheryshev. The Russian midfielder showed great skill to get away from his defender and went through one-one-one against Soria, but the Sevilla goalkeeper came out on top. Unlucky. It was an unbeatable chance.
Raba did not give Soria a look in though. Some sublime attacking play by the Submarine culminated in Samu Castillejo crossing the ball in from the byline and Raba getting on the end of it to fire a bullet of a header in at the far post (0-1, m. 34).
Sevilla were left with ten men in the 61st minute. Ben Yedder was sent off after protesting a call by the referee and subsequently sarcastically applauding his first yellow card in the referee’s face.
Villarreal took advantage of being a player up to increase their lead. Bacca won the ball back and played it to Raba, the youngster then played an accurate through ball back to the Colombian who went on to score with a strike into the far corner of Soria’s goal (0-2, m. 67).
The Yellows did not finish with eleven men either though. Jaume Costa received a second yellow card after a hand ball in the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot (m. 76). Sergio Asenjo was a giant between the posts though and Nolito could find no way through. What a save by the Villarreal number 1.
The Sevilla number 24 made up for his miss moments later (m. 77). Lenglet headed and Nolito jumped on the loose ball in the box and sent it into the back of the net.
Then Sevilla had the momentum and shortly later got the equaliser. N’Zonzi hit a blistering strike from 30 metres out to make it 2-2 in the 81st minute. And that’s how it finished. Unlucky Yellows!
Villarreal’s next match is this Tuesday against CD Leganés at the Estadio de la Cerámica (9:30pm CEST).
Lineups:
Sevilla FC: David Soria; Jesús Navas, Mercado, Lenglet, Escudero; Sarabia, Banega, Nzonzi, Vázquez (Nolito, m. 66); Sandro (Roque Mesa, m. 85) and Muriel (Ben Yedder, m. 53).
Villarreal CF: Asenjo; Rukavina, Mario, Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Rodrigo, Trigueros; Samu Castillejo, Raba (Javi Fuego, m. 77), Cheryshev (Soriano, m. 64); Bacca (Enes Ünal, m. 85).
Goals: 0-1. Min. 34: Raba. 0-2. Min. 67: Bacca. 1-2. Min. 77: Nolito. 2-2. Min. 81: Nzonzi.
Referee: González Fuertes. Cautioned: Banega, Sarabia and Sergio Escudero for Sevilla; Cheryshev for Villarreal. Sent off: Ben Yedder (m. 61) and Jaume Costa (m. 75).
Match Information: Match corresponding to Matchday 32 in the LaLiga Santander played at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium in front of 32,192 fans.
