Villarreal lost their third game of the pre-season in which they deserved much more
Villarreal CF lost to Hannover 96 at the Heinz von Heiden Arena in Hannover, Germany. The Yellows enjoyed great chances in both the first half and the second half to take the win, but the spotless performance of the home goalkeeper and their attackers’ finishing dictated the outcome of the match.
Villarreal had the upper hand from the start and came close to taking the lead in the opening stages. In the eighth minute of the match, Gerard Moreno, after getting away from an opponent’s defender with a magnificent body movement, put a ball into the box that was attacked by Étienne Capoue at the near post and came close to becoming the first goal of the afternoon.
Gerard, a nightmare for the opposing defence, put Andrés Ferrari, who was once again in the first team squad and this time in the starting line-up, in a goal-scoring position on two occasions. On the first occasion he narrowly missed the target and on the second only Zieler, the visiting goalkeeper, prevented the Uruguayan from scoring.
The No.7 wasn’t only providing, but had the best chance for the Yellows in the first half, with his powerful left-footed effort hitting the bar in the 30th minute.
The Submarine failed to take advantage of their great chances to take the lead and they were to pay dearly for it. In the 44th minute, Schaub’s powerful shot from inside the area beat Filip Jorgensen, who until then had successfully dealt with the German attacks.
Setién moved the bench at the start of the second half and changed ten players.
Ben Brereton Díaz, one of the fresh faces, had a great chance to equalise in the 47th minute. The Chilean, after a fantastic pass from Denis Suárez, found himself alone in front of Zieler, but the German goalkeeper again denied the Yellows a goal.
Villarreal wanted and deserved the equaliser. In the 57th minute, Fabio Blanco, assisted by Ben Brereton, shot alone from the penalty spot after Zieler’s shot was blocked by Zieler and then cleared off the line by a German defender as the ball went in.
In the 73rd minute, Terrats had another great chance for his side with a cross shot with his weak foot that the visiting goalkeeper deflected just wide to prevent a goal for the visitors.
In the closing stages of the game both Terrats and Brereton had further chances to pull one back, but were again denied by the home keeper. Finally, the team suffered another goal from Schaub in the final minutes. Villarreal lost 3-0 at the Heinz von Heiden Arena in Hannover.
Lineups:
Villarreal: Jorgensen; Kiko F., Mandi, Abraham, Pedraza; Parejo, Trigueros, Capoue; Gerard, Mojica, Ferrari. Also played: Reina, A. Alti, Hugo Pérez, J. Cuenca, Alberto M., Santi C.V., R. Terrats, Denis Suárez, I. Akhomach, F. Blanco, Brereton Díaz.
Hannover 96: Zieler; Dehm, Ezeh, Börner, Neumann, Köhn; Besuschkow, Christiansen, Schaub; Teuchert, Nielsen.
Goals: 1-0. Min. 44: Schaub. 2-0. Min. 67: Schaub. 3-0. Min. 86: Schaub.
Referee: Robert Schröder (Germany).
Matchday information: Third match of the 2023/24 pre-season against Hannover 96 at the Heinz von Heiden Arena.
