Vila-real is the only town that looks Primera football in the eye. He lives on ceramics but enjoys the ball in the hands of the yellow submarine, that team for which there are no superstitions worth. The poor man who became a giant and who practices good football, the one that everyone envy and admire, the one that many one day dreamed of playing, like Luis GarcÃa, the Espanyol coach. The exciting project groguet is the mirror in which you would like to look at yourself. However, his team is light years away from these delicacies. Neither by talent, nor by emotional condition. And the match between the two was nothing but a faithful reflection of the abysmal differences between the two clubs today. Only the imponderables, so important in football, prevented Villarreal from beating the deranged parakeet team with force much earlier, which is four points from salvation after Valencia’s victory against Valladolid.
Both for their own and for others, the day was once again a step back for the blue and whites, sunk in the classification and who seem to be traveling on a highway towards Segunda. After three games without achieving the objectives, Luis GarcÃa this time tried to protect himself on the visit to La Cerámica. He repeated the system, with three central defenders, but opted for a double pivot with a clear defensive vocation. Without wingers with the capacity to be deep, Óscar Gil with a changed leg and Puado acted as wingers. Out of position, neither was able to shine.
The approach sought a certain defensive protectionism and quick transitions. In neither of the two facets did the parakeet team shine, whose tactical and technical innocence were punished by Villarreal. The entire game was an exercise in survival for the Spanish team, which if it stayed alive was due to the heroics of Pacheco and local mistakes.
In the first 20 minutes alone, Setién’s men fired nine times. At halftime there were countless saving hands from the parakeet goalkeeper. Yeremy Pino and Chukwueze, a nightmare for Calero and Óscar Gil, were the ones who tried it the most, but also Parejo, Jackson, Foyth… Shots from medium range, point blank range, counterattack, set pieces. The local repertoire was overwhelming.
And despite everything, on the only occasion of danger, Espanyol achieved unexpected loot. Puado hooked a loose ball and sent it to the squad after a corner. The VAR awarded the goal and then reviewed it again. Three minutes later Soto Grado gave the goal.
For the second time this season, the parakeet team came victorious at halftime. A feeling, that of winning, that no one has enjoyed less this year. But it would not last long. At the restart, the locals came out in a rush and soon found an award thanks to a shot from the edge of Capoué. The tie turned the game into a correcalles. Espanyol felt the need to abandon their defensive position and this ended up taking its toll. Five minutes later César Montes blocked a shot on goal with his arm and the VAR was on again. Pacheco saved the penalty taken by Parejo, but the ball hit the post and returned to the local player, who only had to push it into the back of the goal.
A serious mistake by Pau got the parrots back into the game. The centre-back slipped and gave the ball away to Braithwaite, who set up Joselu to score his thirteenth goal of the season. With the tie, Villarreal unleashed all their fury. Jackson made the third on a personal move and Capoué, on added, the fourth. Each home goal was celebrated over the PA system with the theme Highway to Hell (Highway to Hell, from AC/DC).
A point of twelve adds Luis GarcÃa since his arrival. Getafe, on Sunday, is one last bullet before being completely evicted.
4 – Villarreal: Queen; Foyth, Mandi, Pau, Alberto Moreno (Pedraza, m.91); Parejo, Capoue, Lo Celso (Terrats, m.94); Yeremy, Jackson (Baena, m.93) and Chukwueze.
2 – Spanish: Pacheco, Calero (Simo, m.76), César Montes, Sergi Gómez, Óscar Gil; De Souza (Pedrosa, m.85), Bare (Edu Expósito, m. 67), Braithwaite, Puado (Nico Melamed, m.85), Darder and Joselu.
Goals: 0-1, m.45: Handful. 1-1, m.53: Capoue. 2-1, m.63: Even. 2-2, m.73: Joselu. 3-2, m.80: Jackson. 4-2, m.92: Capoue.
Referee: Soto Grado (La Rioja College). He admonished the locals Jackson and Yeremy, and the visitors Calero, Puado, César Montes and Óscar Gil. He sent off Edu Expósito with a direct red card in the 95th minute.
Incidents: match corresponding to the thirty-first day of LaLiga Santander played in front of 16,134 spectators, with nearly five hundred Espanyol supporters, at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
