Villarreal beat Levante at the El Collao with goals by Trigueros, Semedo and Mario González
Villarreal came back from a goal down against Levante at the El Collao de Alcoi stadium to pick up their second consecutive preaseason win, thanks to goals scored by Trigueros, Semedo and Mario González in the second half of the match. It was a match that served as a practice for the start of the league, as both teams will go head to head on Matchday 1 of the LaLiga Santander at the Estadio Ciutat de València (Monday 21st August at 8:15pm CEST).
The first clear chance of the game fell to the Yellows. Soldado and Sansone connected brilliantly, but the Italian-German forward could not convert past Raúl, who held him up and cleared the danger while fans were already celebrating in the stands of the El Collao stadium (min. 12).
Bardhi did convert though for the locals though. The Levante UD striker executed his free kick to perfection and the ball struck the top corner of Andrés Fernández’s net (1-0, m. 34). Unstoppable. A real screamer.
The equalizer for the Yellows came in the second half. Trigueros pounced on a loose ball in the box after a shot by Fornals and sent it to the back of the net with just over a quarter of an hour to go until the end of the match (1-1, m. 73).
There was not even time to celebrate before Villarreal bagged another (1-2). Trigueros put a great ball into the box from a free kick and Ruben Semedo powered home with his head (m. 76). It was the second consecutive goal from the Portuguese centre back, who also scored in the last match against Reus Deportiu.
The decisive third was scored by Mario González. The young striker, who plays for the Villarreal Reserves, brought the ball down and placed his shot nicely past the Levante keeper at the near post (m. 81).
Villarreal CF’s next match is against CA Boca Juniors at the La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires on Wednesday 2nd August as 9:30pm in Argentina (2:30am CEST). The Yellows will set off this Monday at 11:50pm CEST on a charter flight from Valencia Airport to Buenos Aires.
Lineups:
Levante UD: Raúl; Iván López, Postigo, Chema, Toño; Jason, Lerma, Campaña, Bardhi, Morales; and Álex Alegría.
Also played: Luna, Espinosa, Verza, Joan, Javi Ramírez, Aly, Pepelu, Kaiser, Borja, Shaq and Manu Viana.
Villarreal CF: Andrés (Barbosa, m. 46); Rukavina (Semedo, m. 61), Álvaro (Bonera, m. 61), Víctor Ruiz (Ramiro, m. 61), Pau; Leo Suárez, Rodrigo, Pablo Fornals (Mario González, m. 74), Soriano (Trigueros, m. 46); Sansone (Samu Castillejo, m. 46) and Soldado (Bakambu, m. 61).
Goals: 1-0. Min. 34: Bardhi. 1-1. Min. 73: Trigueros. 1-2. Min. 76: Semedo. 1-3. Min. 81: Mario González.
Referee: Saúl Ais.
Stadium: El Collao de Alcoi.
