Sevilla 2-0 Villarreal
Sevilla moved back into the top four at the La Liga table as they dealt Villarreal their second defeat of the season.
Lucas Ocampos and Youssef En-Nesyri led the charge for Los Palanganas, while their visitors couldn’t find any answers for the whole night.
This game effectively snapped Villarreal’s impressive undefeated streak, which was the longest in club history. They are currently level with Sevilla in points with 26 placing fifth at the standings.
This winning result somehow gave Julen Lopetegui’s men a sense of optimism considering their rocky start of the season.
Their La Liga 2020 odds for the championship has drastically improved, but their work will be cut out for them since they’ll be in a gauntlet especially in the first week of January 2021.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Submarine will have a chance to regroup since they have a lighter schedule. And the holiday break should be a reprieve of sorts for Unai Emery’s men given their worrisome injury list.
Overall, this was an entertaining match for these two sides. And as always, SBOTOP is here to recap last night’s set of La Liga 2020 highlights.
Highlights of the game
The match started with both teams going all out in what was a fast-paced first half.
But while both of them had free runs at the goal right away, it was Sevilla who were able to capitalise early.
In the seventh minute, Marcos Acuna launched a shot inside the penalty area which was blocked by Villarreal’s defence. However, upon further review by the VAR, the referees awarded a penalty for the home side.
The ball grazed through the hands of defender Juan Foyth. And on the ensuing play, leading scorer Lucas Ocampos slotted the ball into the right side of the net to draw first blood for Los Palanganas.
Foyth’s struggles continued as Sevilla’s attack keyed in on him when he was caught out of position several times.
One of those instances was when Sevilla almost doubled their lead in the 34th minute, when the Tottenham loanee failed to mark Ruben Pena, whose header was saved by goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.
Villarreal had multiple opportunities to try and breach Sevilla’s backline, but the hosts were clearly happy to sit back and thwart their visitors in the first half.
In the second half, Sevilla’s physicality and tenacity paid off once more.
During the 53rd minute, Los Palanganas generated a counterattack when Manu Trigueros and Dani Parejo failed to find space and lost the ball, leading to Youssef En-Nesyri outrunning multiple defenders and nutmegging Sergio Asenjo to go up 2-0.
20 minutes later, the Yellow Submarine pushed to cut into Sevilla’s lead when Alfonso Pedraza tried to do it all alone with a beautiful run at goal.
The speedy full-back went past multiple Sevilla defenders, but Bono got out just in time to save the day for the home side.
Yeremi Pino and Samuel Chukwueze made instant impact for Villarreal, but their effort in the 74th minute didn’t materialise into a much-needed goal.
Pino teed up Chukwueze with a through-ball on right flank, but the Nigerian forward’s left-foot strike was parried away by Bono for a corner.
One minute later, Alfonso Pedraza had another effort in goal, but Bono was there to blow it up yet again.
Villarreal were clearly outplayed by the defending Europa League titlists, as the latter’s midfield was robust for the whole evening.
Key statistics
Despite a fast-paced affair, shots on target were hard to come by for both teams.
Sevilla made sure to make them count as they had 10 total shots with three of them on target, while Villarreal had six total shots with two on target.
It was also a heated game since five yellow cards where distributed to these two teams. Sevilla had one while Villarreal had four.
Prior to this game, Villarreal were on a rampage as they were undefeated in 19 games in all competitions.
Sevilla, meanwhile, have built a undefeated run of their own – winning four and drawing once in all competitions for December.
What’s next?
Sevilla have a tough schedule on their hands since their next three opponents are at the upper half of the La Liga table.
First up will be Real Betis on January 2, and then they’ll face Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid in the next 11 days.
Villarreal, on the other hand, will face Levante, Celta Vigo, and Granada in their next few fixtures.
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