Villarreal beat Zenit Saint Petersburg with goals from Gerard and Bacca
Villarreal qualified for the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals by beating Zenit Saint Petersburg 2-1 at the Estadio de la Cerámica. The Yellow Submarine’s goals came from Gerard Moreno and Carlos Bacca. A lethal connection. The Russian side pulled one back in added time through Branislav Ivanović.
Villarreal came into the match with an advantage, after the 1-3 win in Saint Petersburg, which saw them have control of the tie. Despite that, in the first few minutes, Zenit could have gone ahead with a chip from Sardar Azmoun which just went over the bar. After a quiet beginning, the Yellows got started.
Javi Calleja made a total of four changes to the starting XI from the team that beat Levante in LaLiga. Andrés Fernández was in goal, Álvaro returned to the team, Pablo Fornals was the creator and Bacca was up front.
The goal to make it 1-0 came after a great counter-attack with just before half an hour on the clock. Bacca got the ball with his back to goal, he turned, and played a perfect through ball to Gerard. It was top class. The Catalan striker beat the defender and played a brilliant right-footed effort that went in off the underside of the crossbar. What a goal.
It was the same footballers who took centre stage for the goal to make it 2-0 with the second half just underway. This time it was Gerard who made the assist and Bacca was the goalscorer. The Catalan striker cut in neatly on the right flank, and sent a perfect ball onto the Colombian’s head. The No.9 scored perfectly.
The Yellows’ last clear chance on goal fell to Jaume Costa, who brought down a fantastic long ball forward from Santi Cazorla but his shot ricocheted off the top of the crossbar. At the other end, Zenit made no mistake in added time. Ivanović was first to a loose ball in the box and hit a powerful strike past Fernández.
Villarreal controlled the match and come away with another win that adds to the team’s morale ahead of this weekend’s important league match against Rayo Vallecano at the Estadio de la Cerámica (Sunday, 6:30pm).
The quarter-final draw is this Friday
Villarreal will find out their opponent for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League in tomorrow’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland at 1pm CET.
Lineups:
Villarreal CF: Andrés; Álvaro, Funes Mori (Miguelón, m. 76), Víctor Ruiz; Mario Gaspar, Iborra (Cazorla, m. 70), Cáseres (Morlanes, m. 46), Fornals, Jaume Costa; Gerard, Bacca.
FC Zenit: Lunev (Kerzhakov, m. 63); Smolnikov, Ivanović, Mammana, Rakitskyy; Hernani, Barrios (Kranevitter, m. 46), Ozdoev; Shatov, Azmoun (Mak, m. 70), Driussi.
Goals: 1-0. Min. 28: Gerard. 2-0. Min. 47: Bacca. 2-1. Min. 91: Ivanović.
Referee: Artur Dias (Portugal). Booked: Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa (Villarreal); Shatov (Zenit).
Matchday information: Matchday corresponding to the second leg of the round-of-16 tie in the UEFA Europa League at the Estadio de la Cerámica in front of an attendance of 14,027.
