Football is like that. A goal from Ayoze in the 95th minute gave Villarreal an undeserved victory. The forward, who came from Betis, had the pleasure of sealing the victory against a much better Sevilla, who deserved the victory in a great second half, where only a great Diego Conde, the Villarreal goalkeeper, prevented the Andalusian victory. Sevilla must improve their defence, although it will hardly lose a match again if they play like they did against Villarreal. They took up to 16 shots at the opponent’s goal. Marcelino García Toral’s team was very effective. They took a completely unexpected victory. Football is like that and that is why, many times, it is incomprehensible.
1
Ørjan Nyland, Adrià Pedrosa, Loïc Badé, José Ángel Carmona, Kike Salas (Marcão, min. 76), Lucien Agoumé, Juanlu Sánchez (Chidera Ejuke, min. 70), Saúl Ñíguez, Lucas Ocampos (Jesús Navas, min. 85) , Isaac Romero (Kelechi Iheanacho, min. 76) and Dodi Lukébakio (Djibril Sow, min. 70)
2
Diego Conde, Sergi Cardona, Willy Kambwala, Kiko Femenía, Eric Bailly (Raúl Albiol, min. 84), Ilias Akhomach (Yeremy Pino, min. 72), Santi Comesaña (Dani Parejo, min. 72), Álex Baena, Pape Gueye , Nicolas Pépé (Thierno Barry, min. 64) and Arnaut Danjuma (Ayoze Pérez, min. 64)
Goals
0-1 min. 1: Arnaut Danjuma. 1-1 min. 50: Lukebakio. 1-2 min. 94: Ayoze Pérez
Referee Isidro Diaz de Mera Squires
Yellow cards
Álex Baena (min. 45), Isaac Romero (min. 46), Arnaut Danjuma (min. 62), José Ángel Carmona (min. 80), Eric Bailly (min. 83), Parejo (min. 87), Marcao ( min. 95), Ayoze Pérez (min. 98)
Villarreal had one virtue and many flaws against García Pimienta’s new Sevilla. A brilliant pass from Baena left Danjuma alone after two minutes. The striker scored after Nyland came on and made it 0-1, as Pépé could have done two minutes later. Sevilla were a sieve at the back. Until they settled down and took control of the game, something that Villarreal could hardly do, with a double pivot with Comesaña and Gueye fighting for the ball. And two central defenders like Bailly and Kambwala completely disconnected. That’s what happens when you do without players like Parejo, Gerard Moreno or Albiol. Marcelino rotated beautifully.
Sevilla, with faith and well led by Saúl, equalised early on, but the VAR warned that Isaac was just offside. García Pimienta’s men did not feel the blow. They are a promising team, with an Isaac who plays more than he scores and the appearances of Lukébakio. Sevilla accumulated chances and opportunities against an outclassed Villarreal, lacking composure. And the just equaliser came after a huge defensive blunder by Marcelino’s men. Their defence allowed a long ball from Ocampos to bounce for Lukébakio to take a great volley.
Villarreal pushed again at the start of the second half. Nyland again saved from Danjuma. However, it was Sevilla who clearly took control of the match. The Andalusians exercised absolute dominance and enjoyed a good number of chances to score. Diego Conde made a spectacular double save from Carmona and Isaac and deflected a masterful free kick from Saúl onto the crossbar with his fingertips. The goalkeeper made another great intervention after a shot from Iheanacho. When it seemed that the Andalusians were going to score, their defensive system creaked on a ball into the area. Ayoze silenced the Pizjuán with a great volley. Villarreal, in construction, was superior in the only thing that counts in this sport: the score. Sevilla must think that what happened was an accident. However, they must concede less in defence because this is a defeat that hurts. They had everything to win and they lost. García Pimienta has work ahead of him. No matter how high Sevilla is, conceding four goals every two games makes it difficult to progress.
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