Villarreal used a quick goal and Ruben “Cani” Gracia’s playmaking to earn a hard-fought 2-1 win at home over RCD Espanyol on Thursday, keeping the promoted side undefeated through six rounds in La Liga.
Villarreal stayed in fourth place, two points behind third-placed Real Madrid. Leaders Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are a further two points ahead.
“We hope we can keep this up and stay in the Champions League spots,” Cani said. “We are not going to settle for less, although we do remember that we have just come up from the second division.”
Photo: AFP
Striker Jeremy Perbet needed 30 seconds to put Villarreal ahead at El Madrigal by volleying in a cross by Hernan Perez that Cani had headed down to him in the penalty area.
Despite the early blow, Espanyol hung in the match thanks to Kiko Casilla’s goalkeeping to stop two shots by Giovani dos Santos before halftime.
Javier Aguirre’s team, which was full of second-choice players, then pressed Villarreal into their penalty area at the start of the second half, but Cani set up substitute Jonathan Pereira to tap in the hosts’ second goal on the counterattack in the 67th minute after streaking down the left flank.
Photo: EPA
However, Espanyol were not done and forward Sergio Garcia pulled one back in the 80th minute when he spun away from his marker and drilled a shot past goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo to leave the result in doubt until the final whistle.
It was Espanyol’s first loss of the season.
“Both goals that we conceded could have been prevented,” Espanyol coach Aguirre said. “We can lose a game, but maintaining a sense of order is a priority for us. We scrapped and played well, but Villarreal had the answer.”
In other matches on Thursday, Athletic Bilbao fought back for an entertaining 2-1 win over Real Betis Balompie, while Getafe beat visiting RC Celta de Vigo 2-0.
Bilbao dominated the match at the San Mames Barria, which has sections of seating still under construction, with forward Ibai Gomez peppering Betis’ penaly area with crosses from the left wing and hitting the crossbar twice before halftime.
Betis goalkeeper Guillermo Sara saved a penalty taken by Benat Etxebarria in the 58th minute after Markel Susaeta wrong-footed Xavi Torres and was tripped by the midfielder in the area.
In a rare excursion into Bilbao’s area, Betis forward Jorge Molina poked his own rebound from a header saved by Gorka Iraizoz under the goalkeeper from a tight angle to snatch the lead in the 62nd minute.
Bilbao kept pushing forward and their 73rd-minute equalizer came through Oscar de Marcos, who went on in the 70th minute and soon raced in to head Benat’s cross between Sara’s legs.
Defender Mikel San Jose was then left unmarked to head in Gomez’s cross — the first one he sent in from the right side — to notch Bilbao’s winner in the 82nd minute.
Molina almost grabbed a draw for Betis, who have just one victory this season, with a shot off the post four minutes from time.
“To be fair, Athletic should have gone in halftime ahead,” Betis coach Pepe Mel said. “From there on, with the saved penalty, the sensation that I take away is that we did enough to take a point.”
Getafe centerback Lisandro Lopez scored one goal and set up another to give the Madrid-based team their second victory of the season.
Lopez headed in a cross by Pedro Leon a minute before halftime and the Argentine flicked on Leon’s corner for Alvaro Arroyo to double the advantage five minutes after the break.
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS