Villarreal 2-0 Malaga: Sansone at the double

Villarreal go in to yet another bye week (international break) on a high note following a 2-0 home win against Malaga. Malaga’s intent was to frustrate Villarreal, and it worked for long periods, but eventually Nicola Sansone profited from two fine assists, one from Carlos Bacca, the second from Pablo Fornals.

Villarreal were missing the suspended Alvaro Gonzalez and Manu Trigueros, but were able to get out of this one without any yellows for players already on 4 (Rodri and Bakambu). Cedric’s only problem was the offside flag—he ‘scored’ three times but each time it was waved off for offside.

Mariano Barbosa was calm and collected in the Villarreal goal, and Daniele Bonera deputised ably for the missing Alvaro. Javi Calleja gave a start to young Chuca in midfield, and he did pretty well, though what eventually broke the deadlock was Calleja hauling off Roberto Soriano and Chuca for Cheryshev and Sansone, with Fornals dropping a little deeper to start feeding the front guys. It worked a charm; Sansone scored in the 68th and 76th minutes to give Villarreal a deserved win.

With this victory, Villarreal moves up to fifth in the table, three points behind Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and one point ahead of Sevilla.

Now we are off for two weeks, returning to action on the 19th against Athletic Club. The Basque side is struggling at the moment, but is always tough at San Mamès. Endavant Villarreal!!