Villarreal are knocked out of the Round of 16 of the cup despite beating Leganés at home
Deserved, but not to be. Villarreal were knocked out of the Copa del Rey against Leganés tonight despite beating Leganés at the Estadio de la Cerámica (2-1) in a match they deserved to come away with a better result. The Yellows’ goals were scored by Raba and Cheryshev. They were not enough though as El Zhar’s away goal was worth more after a 1-0 win for Leganés in the first leg.
Javi Calleja’s side had to make a comeback. Villarreal attacked the ‘pepinero’ goal from the first minute, pushing them back into their area. The Leganés back line held strong though and the home side could not find a way through. It was a wall waiting to sentence the tie on the counterattack.
Pablo Fornals had two good chances in the first half. The first came after a pass from Adrián Marín and Enes Ünal stopped the ball dead for the numer 8 to run on to. The midfielder’s efforts were saved by Champagne though.
The surprise came after half an hour of play. In their first chance on goal the side from Madrid took the lead. Completely against the run of play El Zhar was through one on one against Barbosa and lobbed him from the edge of the box (0-1, m. 31). Unbelievable.
Right after Enes Ünal had a great chance at the other end, he was also through one on one against the ‘pepinero’ goalkeeper, but his shot was saved (m.32). So, after dominating the possession of the ball in the first half, somehow the Yellows were down by one at the break.
The equaliser came at the start of the second half. Dani Raba brought the ball down with real class and cooly struck the ball past Champagne (1-1, m. 47). Hope grew at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
Debut for Roger Martínez
Villarreal CF’s new Colombian striker, Roger Martínez, made his debut for the Yellow Submarine. The number 24 came on in the 71st minute replacing Adrián Marín. Villarreal went all out to complete the comeback and Roger himself had a great chance with his head that just missed the post.
With two minutes to go Villarreal scored a second. Cheryshev received a through ball and scored at the near post. Hope was alive until the end, but time ran out. As a result, Villarreal are eliminated from the Copa del Rey.
The next match for Villarreal is this Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium against Real Madrid in LaLiga (4:15pm CET).
Lineups:
Villarreal CF: Barbosa; Rukavina, Álvaro, Víctor Ruiz, Adrián Marín (Roger Martínez, m. 71); Raba, Rodrigo (Samu Castillejo, m. 61), Trigueros, Fornals (Cheryshev, m. 80); Bacca and Enes Ünal.
CD Leganés: Champagne; Tito, Ezequiel, Siovas, Diego Rico; Gumbau, Rubén Pérez; El Zhar (Mantovani, m. 73), Eraso (Gabriel, m. 46), José Naranjo (Omar Ramos, m. 61); Beauvue.
Goals: 0-1. Min. 31: El Zhar. 1-1. Min. 47: Raba. 2-1. Min. 88: Cheryshev.
Referee: Álvarez Izquierdo (Catalonia). Cautioned: Rukavina and Fornals for Villarreal; Siovas, Gumbau, Champagne and Rubén Pérez for Leganés.
Match Information: Match corresponding to the second leg of the Round of 16 of the Copa del Rey played at the Estadio de la Cerámica in front of 12,122 spectators. A minute of silence was held in memory of the young Vila-real girl to have passed away, Andrea Carballo.
