Villarreal beat Valladolid with goals from Chukwueze and Pau and now have gone seven games undefeated
Villarreal are in full flow. Unai Emery’s side once more won and now have gone undefeated in their last seven games, which have been in LaLiga and the Europa League. In fact, this season, the Yellows have only lost against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou. This time out, they defeated Real Valladolid at the Estadio de la Cerámica, thanks to goals from Samu Chukwueze and Pau Torres. That wasn’t the only good news. Gerard Moreno and Pervis Estupiñán returned to the pitch after their injuries too.
Unai Emery lined up with a 4-4-2, with Iborra and Trigueros in the middle of the pitch. Gerard, who was back after his injury, and Paco Alcácer were the two men up front.
The Submarine came out at full throttle, aware of the importance of the three points up for grabs. The chances, and the goals, came quickly. First of all Alfonso Pedraza tried his luck with a powerful left-footed effort from the edge of the box which made Jordi Masip make a great save at full stretch.
With 20 minutes gone, it was 1-0. Once more, Pedraza, indefatigable on the left flank, won the ball back, got away from various defenders and played a low cross for Chukwueze to score with a placed effort. Brilliant.
Villarreal were dominating, with their superiority being based on possession. It was 2-0 from a set piece. Moi Gómez took a corner, Alcácer flicked it on at the near post and Pau appeared unmarked in the six-yard box to push the ball into the back of the net (m.36).
The yellow whirlwind was uncontainable for the away side. Gerard could have increased the Submarine’s lead with an impressive left-footed effort, but he was denied by the post.
In the second half, Valladolid could have got one back after a rebound that fell to Shon Weissman. His effort didn’t go in after a great intervention from Sergio Asenjo.
Gerard had the ball in the back of the net for the Yellows’ third goal, but the referee ruled it out after checking with VAR due to an apparent foul in the build-up by the Villarreal No.7 before he headed home. Debatable.
The away side went close to scoring once more in the 81st minute. Kike hit the bar after a shot deflected off a defender.
Late on, the game was end-to-end. Take Kubo could have made it 3-0 after a great ball from Carlos Bacca, but Masip made himself big to stop the Japanese attacker’s effort.
Valladolid hit the woodwork once more just after that. This time it was Marcos André who hit the post after a nice turn in the box.
Despite both teams trying, the scoreboard stayed the same. An important win for Villarreal, who stay towards the top of the table.
Next up for the Submarine will be a game at the Estadio de la Cerámica against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Matchday 3 of the UEFA Europa League Group Stage (Thursday, 9pm CET):
Linleups:
Villarreal CF: Asenjo; Mario Gaspar, Albiol, Pau, Pedraza (Estupiñán, m. 66); Chukwueze (Take, m. 62), Iborra, Trigueros, Moi Gómez; Gerard (Yeremy, m. 82), Paco Alcácer (Bacca, m. 82).
Real Valladolid CF: Masip; L. Pérez (Hervías, m. 46), Joaquín, Bruno, Carnero; Waldo (Marcos André, m. 46), Míchel (Kike, m. 77), Alcaraz, Óscar Plano (Toni Villa, m. 77), Orellana; Weissman.
Goals: 1-0. Min. 20: Chukwueze. 2-0. Min. 36: Pau.
Referee: Alberola Rojas. Booked: Mario Gaspar (Villarreal); Joaquín, Alcaraz, Carnero (Real Valladolid).
Matchday information: Match corresponding to LaLiga Matchday 8 at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
