Pépé and Altimira closed the door on him. But it was a folding door. Mario García came into the kitchen and handed the ball to Juan Carlos Arana on the stove. In the middle of the area, the burly player from Las Palmas, a young man with a rooster’s crest, a forward from Racing, received the ball with all the conviction. With your back to the goal. As if he had lead in his feet and springs in the soles of his boots. An impulse with the right to deceive Foyth, another with the left to cut it with a waist whip, and again a left kick to surpass Arnau Tenas. Great goal. 1-0 on the scoreboard and bad vibes for a Villarreal that processed the setback poorly and never recovered.
2
Plamen Andreev, Marco Sangalli (Javi Castro, min. 60), Manu Hernando, Facu González, Mario García, Íñigo Sainz-Maza (Gustavo Puerta, min. 45), Yeray Cabanzón, Aritz Aldasoro, Suleiman Camara (Andrés Martín, min. 72), Juan Carlos Arana (Asier Villalibre, min. 60) y Sergio Martínez (Maguette Gueye, min. 84)
1
Arnau Tenas, Juan Foyth (Renato Veiga, min. 55), Adrià Alti (Tajon Buchanan, min. 45), Sergi Cardona (Alfonso Pedraza, min. 55), Rafa Marín, Santi Comesaña, Carlos Macià (Tani Oluwaseyi, min. 55), Nicolas Pépé, Alberto Moleiro, Ayoze Pérez and Georges Mikautadze (Manor Solomon, min. 82)
Goals
1-0 min. 5: Juan Carlos Arana. 2-0 min. 27: Juan Carlos Arana. 2-1 min. 85: Ayoze Pérez
Referee Isidro Díaz de Mera Escuderos
yellow cards
Suleiman Camara (min. 19), Juan Foyth (min. 45), Alberto Moleiro (min. 69), Gustavo Puerta (min. 71), Rafa Marín (min. 74), Tajon Buchanan (min. 77), López Menéndez (min. 77), Aritz Aldasoro (min. 95)
red cards
López Menéndez (min. 78)
The La Plana team was eliminated from the Cup in the round of 16, in the same way that an hour before Cultural Leonesa eliminated Levante (1-0) and an hour later Celta fell on penalties (2-2) in Albacete. Three Second Division teams left three First Division teams behind.
This promising Villarreal, but young and in training, is bad at complying with continuity and coping with tension and frustration. He shines in the League because the benefits of a devalued national championship allow him afternoons of learning that the Champions League, even in Pafos, does not grant. Neither does the Cup. The mystique of Sardinero, packed to the brim, inflamed by the strength of its team, leader of the Second Division, was a magic circle of moral strength. Bad for visitors. Excellent for the Racing players, who fought every meter with their soul. Villarreal’s team struggled to start the plays due to the waves of pressure that the opponent prepared for them. The drama was aggravated by Carlos Maciá’s inexperience. The young B midfielder, 17 years old, was Comesaña’s partner. Between the two of them they had to bear the weight of the construction of the plays at the beginning and the protection of their centre-backs. In complicated situations, the weight became unbearable. Behind, Foyth did not have his most lucid night. Up front there was a lack of attackers with the capacity for sacrifice, generosity and courage to offer themselves. Too many obstacles for Villarreal.
Villarreal was not lucky either. If Mikautadze had scored the shot in the second minute, after a very good action by Moleiro, the game would have taken a course towards the antipodes. The same in the fifth minute, when the Georgian’s shot went into the hands of Plamen Andreev. But Racing defended well and as the minutes passed, with more struggle than fluidity in the circulation, Mikautadze was disconnected as well as Pépé.
Arana’s 1-0 set the alarm on Marcelino’s bench. The 2-0 score left the visiting field with funeral faces. It happened after a throw-in in favor of Villarreal. Foyth made the imprudence of giving a ball to young Maciá, who controlled it poorly and facilitated Aldasoro’s pressure. The midfielder dotted the ball and Arana finished left-footed, first, crossed and at mid-height, without the goalkeeper being able to react.
The battle of the second half sank Racing in their area and exposed Villarreal’s difficulties in playing in small spaces, even though Tani, Buchanan, Pépé and Mikautadze overcrowded the area. Ayoze’s goal in the 86th minute made the agony more cruel.
