Valencia v Villarreal – Second half review: La Liga - Part 1
Villarreal kicked off the second half against Valencia as the visitors trailed the home side by a goal to nil thanks to Roberto Soldado’s 14th minute striker in the first half of the encounter. Both sides took the field in the second half with the same line-ups that they ended the first half with. It was Villarreal who started the half off strongly, as Juan Capdevila embarked on a solo run for the yellow submariners’. However, the Spanish left back’s shot on César Sanchez’s goal was just off the target.
The replays showed that Valencia’s goalkeeper might have got a slight touch on the ball on its way out of play, but the referee still awarded the home side a goal kick. In the 48th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 had their first real chance of the second half as Roberto Soldado almost capitalised on Mateo Musacchio’s error.
The Villarreal center back was caught in possession by the ex-Real Madrid forward but Soldado’s eventual finish was blocked off by Diego Lopez as the score line remained at 1-0 at Estadio Mestalla. In the 54th minute, Jeremy Mathieu found himself in space outside the Villarreal penalty area but his first time volley failed to trouble Lopez, as Valencia looked to add another goal to their advantage.
It was not long before the home side succeeded in doing so. Once again it was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-Soldado-c31367 whose decoy run created space for Juan Mata inside the Villarreal penalty area. Soldado’s off-the-ball run attracted the attention of Capdevila as Mata was left to finish off the move with a fine finesse shot. Ever Banega also played an integral role in Valencia’s second goal as he played the final through ball for Mata’s finish in the first place.
With his side trailing Valencia by two goals to nil, Juan http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-Garrido-c8443 made an offensive substitution as Capdevila made way for Marcos Ruben down the left hand side of Villarreal’s attack. This change was intended to give the away side more offensive options as Ruben, who is a striker, came on for a defender.
Ruben’s physical play did give Valencia’s back line some problems, but his static game-play hardly created any space for the likes of Rossi and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nilmar-c28044 in the final third of the field. In the 62nd minute, Valencia got their third goal of the night as Banega was played in by Pablo Hernandez. The Spanish midfielder made no mistake with his eventual shot as the score line reached 3-0 at Estadio Mestalla.
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