Villarreal lose to Panathinaikos in their first UEFA Europa League match of the season
Villarreal suffered a 2-0 defeat in Greece. Pacheta’s side lost to Panathinaikos at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Ioannidis and Sporar scored the goals for the Greek side.
The Submarine returned to the UEFA Europa League, where they were crowned champions in 2021. And they did so in a frankly complicated place, the ‘Greek hell’ of the Olympic Stadium in Athens, to face a tough Panathinaikos side.
Only two players were in the starting eleven again in comparison to the last league game against UD Almería: Capoue and Gabbia. The rest were new faces to face the demanding continental game.
With so many changes in the starting line-up, Villarreal looked for pragmatism in their play during the opening stages. And the first clear chance of the game fell to Morales. After the quarter of an hour mark, the forward from Madrid galloped in from the area on a counter-attacking transition, stepped into the box and feinted with a shot. He tricked his man to set up his shot, but it went narrowly wide.
However, it was the Submarine’s only real chance of the first half. Panathinaikos’ reply came a little later. In the 37th minute, the Greek side took the lead. Ioannidis received a pass into space and finished with a lob over Pepe Reina.
The Submarine improved their performance at the start of the second chance. They had a couple of clear approaches down the right that lacked a finisher. The home side could also have extended their lead. Mandi, first, and Reina, later, were providential in two almost consecutive chances for the Greeks. The Algerian miraculously popped up from behind to claw the ball away from a Panathinaikos attacker, while the Spanish keeper showed his reflexes with a great save from a powerful shot from the edge of the area.
On the hour mark, Pacheta made a triple change. He introduced Gerard, Sorloth and Parejo. He put a lot of quality on the pitch and the Submarine redoubled their bid for an equaliser. However, with ten minutes to go, Panathinaikos scored the second goal. Sporar controlled the ball on the edge of the area, looked for a small gap and fired a low shot into the goal defended by Pepe Reina.
Lineups
Panathinaikos: Brignoli; Kotsiras, Schenkeveld, Magnússon, Mladenovic; Pérez (Willian Arao, m. 76) Bernard (Djuricic, m. 76), Cerin; Palacios (Cantalapiedra, m. 88), Ioannidis (Sporar, m. 69), Mancini (Vilhena, m. 69).
Villarreal: Reina; Kiko F., Mandi, Gabbia, A. Pedraza; Capoue, Santi C.V. (Parejo, m. 60), Denis Suárez (Yeremy, m. 30), M. Trigueros (Gerard, m. 61), A. J. Morales (Álex B., m. 77); Brereton Díaz (Sorloth, m. 61).
Goals: 1-0. Min. 37: Ioannidis. 2-0. Min. 79: Sporar.
Referee: Craig Pawson (England). Booked: Cantalapiedra (Panathinaikos); Kiko F., Sorloth, Álex B, A. Pedraza (Villarrela).
Matchday information: Match between Panathinaikos and Villarreal CF, Matchday 1 of the UEFA Europa League group stage, held at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. A minute’s silence was held in memory of the victims of the natural disasters in Morocco and Libya.
