Villarreal, though the efforts of Santi Cazorla and Mati Fernandez, enjoyed a well-played two-nil victory over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday afternoon.
I will put up some highlights soon, but I wanted to mention Mati - two goals in two matches (in reality, two goals in 53 minutes). Could this be the spark? We all know he has such great promise, and it is just a question of when he is going to show it.
If nothing else, it is a good day when Villarreal takes care of business against the lower teams in the league. The points are vital to the Champions League chase, and the win shows more poise than we have shown as of late.
Finally, Pellegrini, Llaneza, and Roig should throw Fuentes a huge party at the end of the season and give him a nice fat contract. Over the last month and a half, he has stood in and stood up - virtually single-handedly saving the season for Villarreal. Without his excellent and reliable play over the last few matches (and do not forget his Valencia goal), Villarreal could easily be struggling in 7th or 8th place.