Villarreal beat Valladolid with goals from Gerard and Capoue and strengthen their claim for European football next season
Three big points. Villarreal beat Real Valladolid 0-2 and strengthened their place in the European positions with only two games left in LaLiga. The goals in the match came from Gerard Moreno and Étienne Capoue.
Unai Emery’s side needed the three points as they were looking to end the LaLiga season in the European spots, while Sergio González’s side needed them to escape the drop zone.
The Submarine started strongly. The Yellows took control of the possession looking to try and find an error in the organised home defence. That said, there were only five minutes on the clock when the first big chance of the game arrived. Gerard played a through ball for Alfonso Pedraza, who played the ball across the heart of the box, and Moi Gómez’s shot went just wide.
With half an hour on the clock, there was a controversial momento. El Yamiq’s heavy challenge on Gerard was only deemed worthy of a yellow by the referee. It was a tackle where the defender could easily have seen a red card.
The goals both came in the second half. First of all, Pau Torres broke through the lines by dribbling before playing a long ball towards Gerard. The No.7 fought with Nacho to bring down the ball, and score the opener with his left foot. Unstoppable (m.67). With that goal, the Catalan striker now has 55 in LaLiga for Villarreal, overtaking two legendary players from Yellos history, Giuseppe Rossi and Diego Forlán, who both have 54.
Valladolid started to push forward looking for the draw, and Villarreal capitalised on that to make it 0-2. Manu Trigueros got free in the box, laid it back to Capoue, whose side-footed effort went in off Roberto’s post. A lovely goal to sentence the match.
Next up for Villarreal is against Sevilla at the Estadio de la Cerámica (Sunday, 6:30pm CEST). A match where 5,000 Yellows season-ticket holders will be in attendance. Let’s go!
Lineups:
Real Valladolid: Roberto; Janko, El Yamiq, Joaquín (Rubén Alcaraz, m. 54), Bruno (Kiko, m. 73), Nacho; Fede (Míchel, m. 73), Roque Mesa (Guardiola, m. 54), Toni Villa (Marcos André, m. 73), Óscar Plano; Weissman.
Villarreal CF: Asenjo; Rubén Peña, Albiol, Pau, Pedraza; Parejo, Capoue, Trigueros (Baena, m. 91); Gerard, Paco Alcácer (Yeremy, m. 60), Moi Gómez (Alberto Moreno, m. 91).
Goals: 0-1. Min. 67: Gerard. 0-2. Min. 90: Capoue.
Referee: De Burgos Bengoetxea. Booked: El Yamiq, Guardiola, Kiko (Real Valladolid); Capoue (Villarreal CF).
Matchday information: Match corresponding to Matchday 36 of LaLiga at the Estadio José Zorrilla.
