The Yellows Reserves fall to Barcelona B in a game they deserved to get much more from
The Villarreal B team suffered an unfair loss to league leaders Barcelona B in a game that the Yellows Reserves deserved to get much more out of (3-2). The Yellows had plenty of goal scoring opportunities and, to top it off, had two clear penalties turned down by the referee in the second half.
The match started with good and bad news for the Yellows. The bad news was the injury suffered by Carlos López that meant he had to leave the field of play in the 2nd minute of the game. While the good news was that Vila-real native, Pau Francisco Torres, headed home from a Raba corner after only three minutes in (0-1).
Barcelona B equalized after the first quarter of an hour. Nili took advantage of a misplaced ball out the back and shot first time, giving Cantero no time to react. The Yellows had to step it up again (1-1).
The start of the second half came with two controversial plays. The first saw Cantalapiedra’s shot from inside the box clearly strike Nili’s hand, but the referee did not point to the spot (47th minute). Only two minutes later, there was another controversial play with the same characters. Cantalapiedra beat Nili to the ball inside the penalty area and was brought down in the process, but the referee waved away penalty appeals once again.
From what was a possible 1-2 lead resulted in 2-1 to Barcelona B. With Villarreal B on the back foot, Marc latched on to a loose ball at the far post and just had to pass it into the net (2-1, 56th minute). Despite the setback, Villarreal B picked themselves up and equalized thanks to Carlos Martínez, who hit a first time shot under the keeper’s legs (2-2, 64th minute).
A special mention must be given to Lazo on making his debut. The skillful player made his debut for the Yellows after coming on loan from Real Madrid Castilla.
When it seemed that the match would finish in a draw, the decisive third strook in favour of the locals. Xemi headed in from a corner and gave the three points and victory to Barcelona B (3-2). The Villarreal B team will try to compensate for this loss in their next game against Sabadell that will be played at the Mini Estadi in the Villarreal CF Training Ground on Sunday 11th September (12pm CET).
Line-ups:
Barcelona B: Suárez; Palencia, Martínez, Fali (Sarsanedas, m. 57), Tarín, Kaptoum (Xemi, m. 46), Nili, Alfaro, Marc (Mújica, m. 66), Perea and Aleñá.
Villarreal B: Cantero; Felipe, Marcos Mauro, Pau, Peris; Raba (Morlanes, m. 74), Chuca, Larrea, Cantalapiedra (Lazo, m. 58); Carlos López (Mario,m. 2) and Carlos Martínez.
Goals: 0-1. Min. 3: Pau. 1-1. Min. 32: Nili. 2-1. Min. 56: Marc. 2-2. Min. 64: Carlos Martínez. 3-2. Min. 91: Xemi.
Referee: Pulido Santana (Las Palmas, Spain). Cautioned: Palencia and Fali for the locals; and Larrea for the visitors.
Stadium: Mini Estadi.
