Villarreal beat Steaua Bucuresti to go through to the next round of the UEFA Europa League
An emotional rollercoaster. Villarreal qualified for the Round of 32 of the UEFA Europa League after a frantic match against FC Steaua Bucuresti, which went the Yellows way in the end thanks to goals from Sansone and Trigueros, the latter a brilliant chip scored in the 87th minute.
The match got off to a thrilling start with both teams going all out for every ball. The Yellows high intensity and pressure forced the Romanian side’s defence to clear the ball on several occasions.
The Yellows dominance soon reaped its reward. After the first quarter of an hour of play Mario set off down the right wing and put in a great cross to Sansone, whose first effort went straight at Nita, but he converted the rebound. The Yellow number 18 made no mistake the second time around with his left footed strike and the El Madrigal stadium erupted.
The Submarine continued to play their game, creating plenty of goal scoring opportunities. After half an hour on the clock two chances came at once. The first from a brilliant through ball by Soriano that Sansone got on the end of but his shot was saved by Nita, while just seconds later Bakambu’s header went just over the bar after another perfect cross from Mario.
The best chance of the first half fell to the feet of Bakambu in stoppage time. The French-Congolese striker found himself one on one with the goalkeeper, but failed in his attempt to dribble around Nita in the box. The worst news of the first half was Mateo Musacchio’s injury, who had to come off and was replaced by Álvaro González.
Steaua Bucuresti equalized 10 minutes after the restart. Tamas put in a cross from the right wing and Achim, after just coming on to the field of play, headed the ball home. Back to square one.
The Submarine reacted and Bakambu had another chance to get himself on the score sheet, after stealing the ball from the Steaua defence and dribbling around the goalkeeper, but he could not put his shot on target.
The spectacular game winner was yet to come though. It was Soriano who started the counterattack and Trigueros lobbed the Steaua goalkeeper with a brilliant chip that went into the top corner off the underside of the bar. An absolute cracker of a goal (2-1, 87th minute). Genius.
This result, together with Osmanlispor’s victory over Zürich (2-0), means Villarreal go through to the Round of 32 of the UEFA Europa League in second place in Group L. The draw for the next stage of the competition will be on Monday.
Lineups:
Villarreal CF: Asenjo; Mario, Musacchio (Álvaro, m. 39), Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Jonathan dos Santos, Bruno, Trigueros, Soriano; Sansone (Santos Borré, m. 79) and Bakambu (Rodrigo, m. 84).
FC Steaua Bucuresti: Nita; Tamas, Moke, Tosca, Momcilovic; Enache (Golubovic, m. 46), Pintilii (Achim, m. 54), Bourceanu, William Amorim; Popa and Fernando Boldrin (Popescu, m. 75).
Goals: 1-0. Min. 15: Sansone. 1-1. Min. 55: Achim. 2-1. Min. 87: Trigueros.
Referee: Manuel Gräfe (GER). Cautioned: Bakambu for Villarreal; Enache, Golubovic and Achim for Steaua. Sent off: Tamas (m. 78) for Steaua.
Stadium: El Madrigal.
