A Villarreal side suffering with plenty of players out lost to Leganés (3-1)
It wasn’t to be. Villarreal had lots of players out (five injured, two suspended and an unexpected injury for Bacca after half an hour of play) and lost on their visit to Leganés at the Butarque stadium (3-1). The Yellows, despite taking the lead through Raba, could not stop the reaction of the white-and-blues who seemed to grow wings after the Submarine’s opener.
The first half was wide open, but with few chances. Villarreal opted to possess the ball from the off, but Leganés gave the Yellows no time and space on the ball, pressuring them in the middle of the park to make Javi Calleja’s men as uncomfortable as possible on the ball.
It was not until the end of the first half when things started to look up for the Yellow Submarine. In the 38th minute, Fornals received the ball in the attacking third, strode forward and let rip a powerful shot from the edge of the box. His strike was heading for the bottom corner but Cuéllar kept the ball out with a stretching save.
One minute later, Raba was centimetres away from converting a fantastic ball in by Bakambu, who saw the midfielder had got away from his defender and tried to find him with a precise pass into space, but the winger could not quite get on the end of it. Goalless at the break.
The first minutes of the second half went along the same lines, but in the 59th minute the game took a turn. In the Villarreal area, Trigueros won the ball back and played a tremendous long ball to Raba, who got away from his defender and took the ball around Cuéllar to make it 0-1 to the visitors.
Leganés reacted straight away though and, in the 72nd minute, got their reward. Diego Rico equalised for the home side with a powerful shot across goal and into the far corner of Barbosa’s goal. The equaliser added to the locals’ momentum and they started to win the ball in the middle and attack dangerously.
With ten minutes to go it was El Zhar who scored the second for the side from Madrid (2-1). After the goal, Villarreal tried to react, but the white-and-blues held strong and would not let the Yellows through. Then, in the final seconds of the match, Gabriel Pires scored the third to make it 3-1 to Leganés.
Lineups:
- CD Leganés: Cuéllar; Tito, Unai Bustinza, Diego Rico, Raúl García; Rubén Pérez, Gabriel Pires, Eraso (Erik Morán, m. 83), El Zhar, Szymanowski (Amrabat, m. 67); and Beauvue (Naranjo, m. 78).
- Villarreal CF: Barbosa, Mario, Bonera, Álvaro, Adrián Marín (Chuca, m. 89), Rodri, Raba (Mario González, m. 77), Trigueros, Fornals; Bacca (Soriano, m. 34) and Bakambu.
- Goals: 0-1. Min. 59: Raba. 1-1, Min. 72: Diego Rico. 2-1. Min. 81: El Zhar. 3-1. Min. 89: Gabriel Pires.
- Referee: David Fernández Borbalán (Andalusia, Spain). Cautioned: Raba (m. 15), Trigueros (m. 41), Bonera (m. 43) and Adrián Marín (m. 49) for Villarreal and Diego Rico (m. 44) and El Zhar (m. 90) for Leganés.
- Match Information: Match corresponding to Matchday 14 of the LaLiga Santander between CD Leganés and Villarreal CF played at the Butarque stadium in front of 10,017 spectators.
