Villarreal beat Eibar 1-2 on a day that the captain became the player to play the most matches 

The best tribute possible. Villarreal got another win away from home by beating a competitive and intense Eibar (1-2) in the Ipurua stadium. A very important victory for the Yellows on the day that their captain, Bruno Soriano, became the player to play the most matches in the history of the club -364 games- beating Marcos Senna who held that record until today. What’s more, this win means the Submarine keep their distance from the teams chasing them down in the fight for fourth place.

The locals started strong. Playing quickly and attacking down the wings, Eibar were trying to get into the Villarreal box but were finding it difficult. After their strong start waned, it was the Yellows who started to move the ball around as they were organised and positioned well all over the pitch. With purpose, but no result, Marcelino’s men were looking for the formula to break down Eibar. 

The locals goal came in the 22^nd minute. After a cross by Jota from the left wing, Areola saved and the ball was cleared, but fell to Capa, whose strike from the edge of the area took a deflection off the Yellows’ defence and flew past Areola. 

Despite the disadvantage the Yellows didn’t lose concentration. They started to attack down the wings, especially down the right side and this is where the equalizer came from. In the 34^th minute, Rukavina made space for Denis Suárez who played a great ball to Soldado, he then put in a perfect cross to Adrián López, who tucked the ball away to make it 1-1. 

In the 40th minute the Submarine had a great chance. After getting into the box, Denis Suárez took the ball off Jota and passed to Pina, whose shot sailed just over the crossbar. 

The way Villarreal came out for the second half was simply brilliant. Looking to play behind the defence, the Yellows soon took advantage of Eibar’s confusion at the back. In the 49^th minute, it was Denis again who played a driven ball to Adrián, whose effort was blocked by Eibar’s defence, but Soldado converted the rebound sending the ball past Riesgo (1-2).

As the minutes passed the game went down a gear, but both teams held their focus. Marcelino decided to put on Trigueros and Bakambu to spice things up in centre midfield and upfront. Villarreal sat back a bit and waited for the spaces to appear in the Eibar attack, who were going all out. 

The Yellows contained Eibar’s onslaught with experience, they were getting closer and closer to goal and in injury time Borja Bastón turned in the box ready to shoot, but Pina was one step ahead and put a stop to it. It was the Yellows’ day and Villarreal, with a fine display, managed to get the three points.

Line-ups: 

• SD Eibar: Riesgo; Capa, Mauro dos Santos, Pantic, Juncá (Luna, 73’); Dani García, Escalante, Keko (Saúl Berjón, 88’), Jota, Inui (Erlich, 63’); and Borja Bastón. 
• Villarreal CF: Areola; Rukavina, Eric Bailly, Víctor Ruiz y Marín; Denis Suárez, Pina, Bruno, Samu Castillejo (Trigueros, 68’); Adrián López (Bakambu, 65’) and Soldado (Baptistao, 82’).
• Goals: 1-0, min. 22: Capa. 1-1, min. 34: Adrián López. 1-2, min. 49: Soldado.
• Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Madrid, Spain). Cautioned: Juncá (10’), Escalante (37’), Capa (51’) and Mauro (88’) for Eibar y Rukavina (11’), Bakambu (70’) and Pina (78’) for Villarreal.
• Information: Match in correspondence with LaLiga BBVA Match Day 31 between SD Eibar and Villarreal CF played at the Estadio de Ipurua with an atttendance of 5,176 spectators. The Submarine captain, Bruno Soriano, became the player to play the most matches in club history with 364 games, one more than Marcos Senna (363) who held the record until today.