Villarreal take down Betis with two brilliant goals by Manu Trigueros and Roberto Soriano
Great play combined with two torpedoes was the difference tonight. The Submarine beat Real Betis at El Madrigal with two spectacular goals from long range by Manu Trigueros and Roberto Soriano, both of which took Betis goalkeeper Adán completely by surprise. It should also be mentioned that Villarreal kept another clean sheet and are now the least scored on team in the LaLiga Santander, with only 7 goals conceded in 11 matches. In fact, Sergio Asenjo is leading the ‘Zamora’ table. So good news all round.
Villarreal gave their opponents the first warning after a quarter of an hour. Trigueros crossed the ball in and Musacchio’s header went just over the bar. Then, only a few minutes later, Fran Escribá’s side took the lead. Trigueros received a square pass from Bruno in the middle of the pitch and, from more than 20 metres out, connected brilliantly with the ball to send his right-footed strike crashing into the top corner. An absolute cracker. The thousands of fans filling the stands of the El Madrigal stadium were left with their mouths wide open. And rightly so.
The goal unleashed the home side and saw Betis sit back, nervously. Thus, chances on goal did not take long to come about for Villarreal. Sansone had the second goal at the command of his right foot, but a green-and-white defender deflected his effort wide at the last second. While shortly after Víctor Ruiz came close to getting on the score sheet too, but his shot struck the crossbar after a fine Castillejo free kick.
The Yellow storm did not let up in the second half. Another great long range strike made it 2-0 on the score board, this time courtesy of Roberto Soriano. The Yellows’ number 20 showed great initiative to shoot from far out, catching Adán off guard, as his bullet of a shot made the net bulge to the fans’ delight.
From then on, Villarreal controlled the match more and more, not struggling at all to keep a clean sheet and creating a lot of danger on the counterattack. With this result, the Yellows find themselves in UEFA Champions League territory, sitting in third place in the table, with 22 points from 11 games.
Lineups:
Villarreal CF: Asenjo; Mario, Musacchio, Víctor Ruiz, Jaume Costa; Castillejo (Rodrigo, m. 78), Bruno, Trigueros, Soriano (Cheryshev, m. 73); Sansone and Bakambu (Jonathan dos Santos, 65).
Real Betis: Adán; Piccini, Mandi, Pezzella, Álex Martínez; Cejudo, Petros, Jonas, F. Gutiérrez (Rubén Castro, m. 56), Joaquín (Álex Alegría, m. 56); and Sanabria (Nahuel, m. 56).
Goals: 1-0. Min. 22: Trigueros. 2-0. Min. 53: Soriano.
Referee: Vicandi Garrido (Basque Country, Spain). Cautioned: Cejudo and Jonas.
Stadium: El Madrigal.
