Nilmar helps Villarreal defeat Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 in Europa League
A brace by substitute Nilmar gave Villarreal a fantastic result against Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 16 clash. The La Liga side travelled to Germany with the odds heavily stacked against them, but they took a big
step towards progressing to the quarter-finals, as they went on to beat a strong Leverkusen side 3-2 away from home.
The high-flying Bundesliga outfit had been unbeaten in 10 Europa League games this season and it looked like they would stretch that record further when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Giuseppe-Rossi-c15027
just before break. The Yellow Submarine then took the lead in the 70th minute through Nilmar, but the joy was short-lived for the travelling Villarreal faithful, as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gonzalo-Castro-c15105 put his side level after just two minutes.
However, more drama was to unfold, as Brazilian striker Nilmar scored the decisive goal in the fourth minute of injury time to give the Spanish side a crucial advantage ahead of the second leg at home.
Coming into tonight’s encounter, the Bundesliga side had won seven out of their last nine games in all competitions, and they started the first half brightly. Villarreal keeper Diego Lopez was forced to make an early fingertip save from a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Renato-Augusto-c30828
freekick.
The home side took the lead in the 33rd minute when a clearance from Leverkusen was met by Kadlec, who went towards the Villarreal goal unchallenged, and unleashed a thunderous shot from 25-yards out that couldn’t be saved. However, the hosts
lead didn’t last long, as Villareal were on level terms in the 42ndminute. A brilliant through-ball from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-Marchena-c8481 was clinically finished off by Italian international Rossi.
The game was more evenly contested in the second half and it was only the introduction of Nilmar that gave the visitors an edge over Leverkusen. Nilmar had only just stepped into the field when he received the ball on the edge of the opposition’s box. However,
he didn’t show any signs of nervousness and turned nicely before firing a low shot beyond Leverkusen keeper Rene Adler.
The German’s however, were not rattled by the goal, and continued to press on for the equaliser. They were rewarded just two minutes later when Castro received a cross at the far post. He then cut inside Mario and drilled a low shot into the goal.
Leverkusen continued their search for another goal that would give them the advantage in the second leg, but it was the Spanish side that found the winner. Late into injury time, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santi-c32503 Cazorla’s diagonal ball and held-off Daniel
Schwaab, before slotting the ball between the legs of keeper Adler to give the visitors a dramatic 3-2 win.
Villarreal now host Leverkusen in a week's time and know that they have a great chance of making it through to the next round of the competition.
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