Villareal 1-3 Valencia: Los Che sink Yellow Submarine in Europa League
Two stoppage time goals earned Valencia a fortunate victory over their east coast local rivals
Valencia earned a somewhat fortuitous 3-1 win at Villarreal in the Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday night.
VIL
1 ________________ 3
VAL
LINE UP
Villarreal
Andrés Fernández; Mario (Pedraza, 80'), Álvaro, Víctor Ruiz, Quintillà; Cazorla, Cáseres (Morlanes, 73'), Fornals, Iborra (Bacca, 66'), Chukwueze; Gerard Moreno.
Valencia
Neto; Roncaglia (Piccini, 58'), Garay, Paulista, Gayà; Wass, Parejo, Ferran Torres (Coquelin, 60'), Guedes; Rodrigo, Gameiro (Cheryshev, 68').
Goles
0-1 M. 6 Guedes. 1-1 M. 37 Cazorla, de penalti. 1-2 M. 90 Wass. 1-3 M. 92 Guedes.
Árbitro
Michael Oliver (Inglaterra). TA: Cazorla (27'), Álvaro (61') y Quintillà (82') / Gayà (40').
Incidencias
La Cerámica. 23.500 espectadores.
Marcelino’s side took the lead through Goncalo Guedes, who finished after Dani Parejo’s penalty was saved.
However the hosts had the better of the game and equalised when Santi Cazorla slammed home a spot kick of his own.
Neto made some good saves to keep Villarreal at bay before two stoppage time strikes swung the tie Valencia’s way.
Daniel Wass scored a scorcher before Guedes finished neatly on the break after a good ball from Denis Cheryshev.
‘“Villarreal is a really good team. Full of top footballers. This was the first time they lost in this season’s Europa League. They’ve been more true to their real potential in Europe than domestically,” said Marcelino.
“Villarreal caused us danger, they are technical and quick. In phases of play they made us uncomfortable. But the three subs we brought on gave us so, so much. Depth, possession, quick transition of play.”
Elsewhere Arsenal beat Napoli 2-0 at the Emirates, Chelsea earned a 1-0 away win over Slavia Prague and Benfica thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2 in other first legs.
Second legs take place next Thursday.
