Villarreal were unlucky in the penalty shoot-out (7-6) and were eliminated by Unionistas

Villarreal said goodbye to the Copa del Rey in the round of 32 after losing to Unionistas de Salamanca in a match that was decided 7-6 on penalties. Ilias gave the Yellow Submarine the lead, Planas equalised and, finally, the penalty shoot-out saw the side from Salamanca qualify for the last 16.

The Yellow Submarine got off to a great start at the Reina Sofia. Marcelino García Toral’s side settled in their opponents’ half for the first few minutes of the tie and had plenty of chances to take the lead. Ilias, insistent as usual on the right flank, came close to winning a penalty after being brought down by the home goalkeeper, but Busquets Ferrer judged otherwise.

Unionistas’ response to Villarreal’s constant arrivals came in the 13th minute. Pepe Reina, who was back in goal in a cup match, showed his reflexes to save a close range header from Losada in the six-yard box.

Villarreal were undeterred by the lively atmosphere in the Salamanca stadium. In the 20th minute of the first half, Dani Parejo swung in a corner from the right and sent the ball to the far post where Jorge Cuenca, rising above everyone else, headed the ball just wide.

There were no notable chances for either side in the remaining minutes of the first half and, at the break, the initial stalemate between Unionistas and Villarreal remained.

Both teams tried their best in the early stages of the second half, but could not find the key to creating clear chances that would have allowed them to score the first goal of the afternoon.

In the 69th minute, Marcelino introduced fresh legs onto the pitch to try to break the initial deadlock. Terrats, Sorloth and Coquelin came on in place of Baena, Bailly and Morales.

Ilias Akhomach scored a stunning goal in the 83rd minute to give Villarreal the lead! In a trademark move, the attacker picked up the ball at the edge of the box and after latching onto the Unionistas defender, broke inside and lashed a left-footed shot into the top corner to make it 0-1.

However, just four minutes later, Busquets Ferrer whistled for an alleged penalty for Santi Comesaña pushing a Unionistas attacker who fell inside the area. Planas, to the right of Pepe Reina, scored the penalty and sent the game into extra time.

Before the start of extra time, the lights went out in the Municipal Reina Sofía and prevented the match from continuing, which, after Busquets Ferrer’s decision, was suspended.

The match was resumed at 4:30pm CET on Monday to start, at last, the extra time from which the winner of the round of 32 would emerge. Marcelino, of the eleven players who finished the game yesterday, only changed Manu Trigueros for Alberto Moreno to face extra time.

The referee signalled the start of extra time in a packed Reina Sofia and the Submarine, motivated, went in search of a goal from the start. In the 99th minute, Terrats took a free-kick that slowly drifted towards goal and the home goalkeeper had to intervene to prevent it from going in.

For their part, the home side tried to get in behind the goal defended by Pepe Reina with various crosses and long-range shots that failed to find the target.

In the end, neither team was able to break the deadlock in the second half of extra time and the match would be decided in the penalty shoot-out, where Villarreal lost 7-6 and thus said goodbye to the Copa del Rey.

Line-ups

Unionistas Salamanca CF:  Iván Martínez; Camus (min. 46, Erik Ruiz), Ramiro, Giménez, Jiménez; Álvaro Gómez, Héctor, Villar, Serrano; Losada, Slavy.

Villarreal CF: Reina; A. Alti (min. 106, Kiko F.), E. Bailly (min. 69, Coquelin), J. Cuenca, Alberto M.; Álex B. (min. 69, R. Terrats), Parejo (min. 75, Lekovic), Santi C.V., I. Akhomach (min. 111, Alberto M.); Gerard, A. J. Morales (min. 69, Sorloth).

Goals: 0-1. Min. 83: I. Akhomach. 1-1. Min. 87: Planas. In the penalty shooutout, Unionistas won 7-6.

Referee: Mateo Busquets Ferrer. Booked: Camus, Erkaitz (Unionistas); J. Cuenca, Santi C.V., R. Terrats, Coquelin (Villarreal).

Matchday information: Match between Unionistas Salamanca and Villarreal CF, corresponding to the Copa del Rey Round of 32 at the Municipal Reina Sofía.