The back of the closet, a victory that had to be worked hard against a good Mallorca that held a 1-1 draw until the last ten minutes. Tani, with his heel and on the goal line, gave the victory to Marcelino’s team, which remains perched at the top of the table and has its best start in the League with 29 points in 13 games.
2
Luiz Júnior, Renato Veiga, Pau Navarro, Rafa Marín (Tajon Buchanan, min. 79), Alfonso Pedraza, Alberto Moleiro (Manor Solomon, min. 73), Thomas Partey (Pape Gueye, min. 62), Nicolas Pépé, Santi Comesaña, Gerard Moreno (Georges Mikautadze, min. 62) y Ayoze Pérez (Tani Oluwaseyi, min. 62)
1
Lucas Bergström, Johan Mojica, Martin Valjent, Pablo Maffeo, Antonio Raíllo, Jan Virgili (Vedat Muriqi, min. 73), Omar Mascarell (Javi Llabrés, min. 85), Antonio Sánchez (Takuma Asano, min. 85), Samú Costa, Pablo Torre (Sergi Darder, min. 68) y Mateo Joseph (Manu Morlanes, min. 85)
Goals
1-0 min. 5: Gerard Moreno. 1-1 min. 7: Samuel Costa. 2-1 min. 82: Who is this Lord?
Referee José Luis Guzmán Mansilla
yellow cards
García (min. 40), Lucas Bergstrom (min. 66), Mojica (min. 74), Luiz Lúcio Reis Júnior (min. 88), Tajon Buchanan (min. 96)
The match began with both teams revved up and turned into a shootout. With a lot of dedication to anticipation to steal and mount quick attacks. That landscape justified the lineup of Jagoba Arrasate, which he left in order to seek the mobility of the interesting Mateo Josep, the elusive Virgili and the talent of Pablo Torres behind. At full speed, it was Villarreal that struck first. A passed cross from Pedraza could have been left by Ayoze with a header at the far post for Gerard Moreno to finish. from a forward who has already seen the net for four consecutive days. A forceful way to knock on the doors of the national team again. The play, Pedraza’s cross in particular, left the lanky Finnish goalkeeper Bergström in a bad position. The tallest player in the history of the League at 2.05 meters was not well positioned. The local fans were still celebrating the goal when a poor ball delivery led to a quick drive by Virgili and a good maneuver by Pablo Torre to set up Samu Costa. The Portuguese, cornered, scored a low and cornered left foot that surprised Luiz Junior. The first two shots on goal by each team were goals.
Neither Villarreal nor Mallorca slowed down from that frenetic pace. Pépé and Antonio Sánchez tried their luck from outside the area with two tight strikes that missed by an inch. Luiz Junior had to close the space very quickly for Mateo Joseph to correct his own mistake when releasing the ball. In that pendular match, Villarreal missed more of Ayoze and Moleiro, dried up by the individual marking of Valjent and Maffeo. That decision and the decision to set up a five-man defense with Antonio Sánchez as the right winger made Villarreal’s offense difficult. Only Gerard Moreno participated with danger. One of his balls was headed by meek Moleiro. With more presence in the opposing half than fluidity, Villarreal exerted a dominance that Mallorca shook off with quick transitions.
With the tie at half-time and with less local clarity at the restart, Marcelino decided to sit Thomas, Ayoze and Gerard Moreno, who did not understand his change. Gueye, Tani and Mikautadze were the replacements. The second assisted the Georgian, who found himself with the long leg of Bergström. It had to be Tani’s heel that decided the duel.
