Villarreal beat Mallorca with a goal from Ayoze at the death
Villarreal achieved a deserved and thrilling win against RCD Mallorca at the death. The Yellows took the lead in the first half through Logan Costa’s header, the Balearics equalised through an own goal from Raúl Albiol and, as the game was drawing to a close, Ayoze Pérez gave Villarreal the win on the stroke of full-time.
Once the international break was over, Villarreal CF resumed the domestic competition at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix, a difficult place to visit, where RCD Mallorca, the Submarine’s opponents on Saturday lunchtime, had so far drawn against Real Madrid (1-1) and Sevilla FC (0-0).
RCD Mallorca, with more control of the ball in the early stages of the game, attacked the Villarreal defence with quick transitions looking for the unmarked player on the wing to cross to the ever-threatening Vedat Muriqi. However, the best chance for the home side came at the feet of Samu Costa, who had the audacity to shoot from the edge of the area.
Villarreal grew as the minutes went by. A lively Santi Comesaña was the main culprit behind the Submarine’s first two dangerous approaches in the opening half. First of all, the Galician midfielder stole the ball from Samu Costa in the centre of the pitch and made quick progress with the ball, which he gave to Ilias for the Moroccan international, in the final third of the pitch, to unleash a cross-cum-shot that went narrowly wide.
Just four minutes later, again he picked up a loose ball in his own half and, after a run from his own area to the rival area, opened up for Álex Baena who went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, with the shot going to the right of the home goal.
The goal was just around the corner for Villarreal, who were relentless in their attempts to get on the scoresheet. And so, the goal was to come from the drawing board. Álex Baena put in a short corner that he played to Parejo, the No. 10 gave it back to him, and the player from Roquetas de Mar put a magnificent ball to the far post that Logan Costa finished off after rising above everyone and putting the Submarine ahead on the scoreboard in the 27th minute.
RCD Mallorca took a step forward at the start of the second half. First, Muriqi scored a goal in the 54th minute that was disallowed for offside, but just three minutes later, in the 57th minute, Asano had a chance with an individual move that ended with a cross into the heart of the area that Raúl Albiol, in his attempt to clear it, put into his own net.
With the scores level at 1-1, there was no clear dominator in the minutes following the home side’s goal. Faced with a lack of clarity, Marcelino moved the bench and brought on players such as Yeremy Pino and Nicolas Pepe.
It was the Canary Islands striker who was the subject of a foul shortly after entering the field of play for a dangerous action by Toni Lato who lifted his foot to the height of Yeremy Pino’s head. The RCD Mallorca defender was shown the red card by the referee.
Villarreal, now with numerical superiority on the pitch, were looking for the winning goal. One of their best chances to break the deadlock came in the 88th minute when Ayoze Pérez’s shot from the edge of the area went just wide of the post.
And when it looked like the game was going to end in a 1-1 draw, Álex Baena came up with a majestic pass that left Yeremy Pino alone, who put in the killer pass for Ayoze to score the winning goal for Villarreal against Mallorca.
Villarreal, unbeatable so far, have now taken three points that keep them among the top positions in the table and undefeated.
The Yellows’ next game will take place on Sunday 22nd September, when they host FC Barcelona at the Estadio de la Cerámica at 4:15pm CEST in the gasme corresponding to Matchday 6 of the 2024/25 EA SPORTS LALIGA season.
