Villarreal 0-0 Espanyol

Villarreal and Espanyol played to a 0-0 draw at the Ceramica, definitely a better result for the visitors. Neither team finished opportunities well, and both goalkeepers were very good, so probably this result was about right.

Whoscored had Rodri as the man of the match and Espanyol keeper Pau Lopez next. Samu Castillejo (3) and Bakambu (2) had the only shots on target for Villarreal, while three different players had one apiece for Espanyol. Barbosa saved Javi Fuego’s shot in injury time and then Enes Unal put a header wide at the other end just as the match concluded, which was a pretty apt commentary on the play that had preceded it.

The referee was again curiously permissive to the visitors—it’s not often that the team with an edge in possession gets called for 50% more fouls, but that’s what happened here. Espanyol were good at grabbing and interfering with the flow of play when they needed to, though the big talking points were a seventh-minute disallowed goal, Rodri adjudged to have fouled the keeper (probably right) and a Castillejo appeal for a penalty in the ninth minute that seemed a good shout but was ignored (probably wrong).

0-0, then, and we stay in midtable range as we prepare to visit Getafe on Sunday. Hopefully we can see a better result there. Endavant Villarreal!!