Levante 0-2 Villarreal: Submarine win in Valencia

Highlights:

http://canalplus.es/lacasadelfutbol/liga/liga-bbva/20140825plucanftb_7.Ves

Man of the match: Cheryshev

General impressions: Villarreal dominant for most of the match, should have been a goal or two up at halftime.  Gio unlucky not to score at least once today. 
I did not see the match, but looking at the highlghts, I am impressed with the way Espinosa and Cheryshev ran at the defense, and the passing of Trigueros.  I gather Bruno was immense.

Hard to know if Levante will be as poor all season long as they were today; apart form ex-Elche man Jordi Xumetra they didn't appear to show a lot.  This might be the year they struggle to stay up.

Javi Mata said today not to read anything into Musacchio not playing, it was precautionary due to a knock.  Also, airwaves are full of rumors Gerard is heading back to Mallorca (they lost their first match in the Liga Adelante, 2-1 to Valladolid) but Javi is "99.9% sure" he is staying here.

Other news: I had missed that we let Florian Lejeune go--we had loande him to Stade Brestois the last two seasons, and he signed with Girona on a free and played 90 minutes yesterday in their 1-0 win over Racing.

And meanwhile, Real Murcia continue to fight against their relegation to the Segunda B (their first match was postponed).

Congratulations to Valencia's new man Rodrigo de Paul, who came on as a sub against Sevilla in the 66th minute, and received a straight red card in the 67th.  Instant impact.  This match also featured the strangest--yet effective--defensive block you will ever see.

Other results: Malaga 1-0 Athletic Club  (the home side finished with nine men!), a late Bilbao goal from their keeper being disallowed for no apparent reason;

Granada 2-1 Depor;

Sevilla 1-1 Valencia, Alexis Vidal with the Sevilla goal but 10-man Valencia equalize late;

Almeria 1-1 Espanyol, a late Sergio Garcia equalizer there for another side down to 10 men;

Barcelona 3-0 Elche (Mascherano sent off), an outstanding, jinking, mazing run from a black cat among the highlights;

Eibar 1-0 Real Sociedad,congrats to the new boys there;

Celta 3-1 Getafe, with my signing of the summer, Larrivey, among Celta's scorers--and Brazilian/Croatian Sammir with the Getafe goal.

Cantera results:  Villarreal B 1-1 Reus Deportiu; Villarreal C open their season next week vs. Castellon.