Football Update: La Liga News- Villarreal Draws against Hercules In A Tough Battle
Hercules has been the surprise package of this season in Spanish La Liga. They have already beaten Barcelona, at Camp Nou, which was the most surprising result of this season. This time they faced Villarreal at Jose Rico Perez Stadium. It was supposed to
be a tough outing for the visitors, despite the fact that Hercules had been out of Spanish Primera Division for a very long time.
A victory for Villarreal could have put them one point ahead of Real Madrid, who took the lead after winning their match and Valencia’s defeat at the hands of Barcelona, on Saturday. However, there were two red cards in the game for Villarreal, so they did
a great job while hanging on to one point from the match.
Hercules was playing at almost full strength, with David Trezeguet, Nelson Haedo Valdez and Royston Drenthe included in the starting line-up. A lot was expected of Valdez, who scored a brace in the victory at Camp Nou. Similarly, Villarreal also had their
attacking options with them, which made it a good encounter to witness.
Despite the odds, Villarreal went down twice, but they managed to pull themselves back up in time. In the end, it was a great result for the visitors, as they played their last ten minutes with only nine men. However, the hosts were also reduced to ten men
in the first half, after a red card was shown to David Trezeguet.
The visitors had a great start to the match, as they made plenty of chances. Borja Valero was in fine form, but he was unfortunate on a couple of occasions. Apart from him, Marcos Senna came close to scoring, but his shot was blocked by the keeper. Nilmar,
the Brazilian midfielder, also had a couple of chances, but he could not convert them into goals.
Against the run of play, it was the hosts who took the lead, and it was none other than Nelson Valdez who found the net. Drenthe, loan deal from Real Madrid, took the free kick, which found the header of Valdez, in the 29th minute.
After this goal, Villarreal started to look for an equaliser and they came close in 34th minute of the match. This time it was the Italian Giuseppe Rossi who took a long range shot, but it struck the post. The goal came one minute later, from
the Spanish left back Joan Capdevila. It was Angel Lopez pass that found Capdevila in the box with a lot of open space. The resulting shot went in the corner for the equaliser.
Trezeguet, the signing from Juventus, remained almost unseen till the last five minutes of first half. In the 40th minute, he fired a shot into the corner of the goal for his fourth goal of the season. The lead was restored and it was a moment
to rejoice for the home crowd. However, this did not last long as soon Trezeguet was shown a red card, after his second yellow of the game. The good thing was that half time was approaching and the hosts had time to regroup before the start of next half.
Villarreal started their second half with the will to take advantage of the ten man situation. It was the busiest time for Hercules’ goal-keeper, Juan Calatayud, who saved the efforts of Nilmar and Rossi. However, he could not keep Valero out, who scored
in the 63rd minute, firing his shot in the left corner, from the right side of the box. The tide was turning in Villarreal’s favour as Hercules found it difficult to play in the absence of one player.
However, things changed dramatically, as Valero was sent off after a second yellow card. Soon after, Mateo Musachhio was also sent off after being shown a straight red for his bad behaviour. Tides turned in favour of hosts once again, who rallied in the
last ten minutes to find the winner. However, Villarreal were saved by Diego Lopez, who produced two fine saves in the end to secure a point for his team.
After this result, Villarreal has moved into second spot behind Real Madrid. Hercules is managing to stay within the European spots, with tenth position on the table.
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