Villarreal comfortably beat Chiclana in their cup opener
The excitement for the Copa del Rey remains intact. Villarreal CF passed with flying colours in their debut in the knockout tournament in Andalusia after beating Chiclana CF 0-5 at the Campo Municipal de Chiclana.
Villarreal took to the field with an eleven with many rotations, something usual in the opening rounds of the Copa del Rey. Only Ilias Akhomach was in the starting line-up again compared to the team that played last Monday in Granada. Villarreal B player, Jorge Pascual, was the new addition to the starting eleven.
Chiclana, meanwhile, were looking forward to a historic match for the club and the city and were dreaming of eliminating a previous UEFA Europa League winner, with the home crowd packing the stands at the Municipal.
Villarreal went for the game right from the start. Jorge Pascual, in the second minute of the game, volleyed over the bar a ball that had been chested down by Manu Trigueros.
The Yellows insisted and the Chiclana players waited in their own half. In the 19th minute of the game, the Submarine broke the initial deadlock after a brilliant individual move by Ilias, who, after getting past a local defender and reaching the back line, played a pull back to Manu Trigueros who finished off with a formidable left-footed shot that flew into the top corner of the goal defended by Fran Sánchez.
Ilias, a real nightmare for the opposition defence, was also heavily involved in the second goal when Jorge Pascual finished off another individual move at the near post to make it 0-2.
In the 41st minute, Manu Trigueros extended Villarreal’s lead adding his second goal of the game after finishing a great assist from Carlos Romero with a shot just inside the post.
The game went into half-time with a clear advantage thanks to Manu Trigueros’ brace and Jorge Pascual’s goal.
Villarreal put the game to bed during the second half through possession. Pacheta introduced fresh legs during the course of the game. Collado, Altimira, Morales and Baena came on during the first quarter of an hour of the second half.
One of them, Diego Collado, was the subject of a penalty after being clearly grabbed by his shirt by a Chiclana defender. Captain Manu Trigueros was in charge of converting the penalty to seal his hat-trick in the 71st minute.
In the 74th minute, Baena finished off an outstanding counter-attack by the Yellows to score the fifth goal of the night and seal the tie.
In the end, Villarreal claimed a well-deserved 0-5 win in Chiclana thanks to a hat-trick from Trigueros and goals from Baena and Jorge Pascual.
The Submarine will find out their opponents in the Second Knockout Stage of the Copa del Rey at the draw on Tuesday 7th November, which will be held at 1pm CET at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas.
Lineups:
Villarreal CF: Reina; Kiko F. (min. 63, D. Collado), Mandi, J. Cuenca, C. Romero (min. 46, Alti); Santi C.V., R. Terrats, M. Trigueros; I. Akhomach (min. 46, A. J. Morales), Brereton Díaz, J. Pascual (min. 46, Álex B.).
Chiclana CF: Fran; Samu, Jaime, David, Kiko; Manzano, Juan Argudo, Marco; Pascual, Agustín, Sergio.
Goals: 0-1. Min. 19: M. Trigueros. 0-2. Min. 31: Jorge Pascual. 0-3. Min. 43: Manu Trigueros. 0-4. Min. 71: M. Trigueros. 0-5. Min. 74: Álex B.
Referee: Juan Luís Pulido Santana (Comité Canario).
Matchday information: Match between Chiclana CF and Villarreal CF, corresponding to the First Round of the 2023/24 Copa del Rey at El Municipal de Chiclana.
