A solid Villarreal take away three points from the Balaídos stadium against Celta
Solid and hardworking, Javi Calleja’s Villarreal came out strong at the Balaídos stadium and came away with the three points against Celta after putting in a complete performance that was rewarded by a spectacular goal scored by Pablo Fornals. The midfielder nodded a diving header past Rubén from great play and a cross in by Bacca from the left wing, which was the opening goal of the game and ended up being worth three points for Villarreal.
With this win Javi Calleja’s side remain in sixth place in the table before their visit to the Mestalla stadium next weekend that will be the final game of 2017.
Possession changed hands, or feet, constantly during the first quarter of an hour of play, but it was Celta who created the first chance after Jozabed’s good strike was met with a tremendous save by Asenjo.
On the half an hour mark the Submarine threatened the locals with their first clear chance of the match. Fornals, taking advantage of a slip by Jonny in the box, squared the ball to Trigueros on the top of the area and the midfielder struck the ball well towards the bottom corner. However, Rubén reacted quickly to make a stretching save and pushed the ball wide.
But with their next chance, in the 34th minute, the Yellows made no mistake. In a brilliant play down the left wing, Carlos Bacca got away from his defender and played an accurate cross into the heart of the box where Pablo Fornals ran onto it and powered it into the back of the net with a diving header (0-1).
Celta tried their best to change the script in the second half with the addition of Emre Mor and a new formation, but Villarreal were absolutely solid. In the 65th minute, Bacca almost sentenced the match with a shot across goal after a quick counterattack by the Yellow Submarine, but his effort was saved by Rubén.
Celta brought on Guidetti and Radoja to turn the score line around, but the Yellows were too strong to break down. Villarreal put in a fine defensive performance from back to front and this great team performance gave the Yellows the three points when the final whistle blew.
Lineups:
RC Celta de Vigo: Rubén; Wass, Cabral, Sergi Gómez, Jonny; Jozabed (Radoja, m. 72), Lobotka, Tucu Hernández; Brais Méndez (Emre Mor, m. 46), Maxi Gómez and Pione Sisto (Guidetti, m. 72).
Villarreal CF: Asenjo; Mario, Álvaro, Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Rodrigo, Trigueros, Castillejo (Cheryshev, m. 68), Fornals; Soriano (Ramiro, m. 77) and Bacca.
Goal: 0-1. Min. 34: Fornals.
Referee: Javier Estrada Fernández (Catalonia, Spain). Cautioned: Fornals (m. 11), Jaume Costa (m. 63) and Trigueros (m. 80) for Villarreal; Jonny (m. 81) for Celta de Vigo.
Match Information: Match corresponding to Matchday 16 of the LaLiga Santander between RC Celta de Vigo and Villarreal CF played at the Estadio de Balaídos in front of 18,215 spectators.
