On The Spot Report: Not Villarreal’s Dia After 0-0 Draw Against Granada

As Villarreal’s fans were welcomed back to the stadium it was 13 million signing Dia who lit up the match despite the 0-0 scoreline

His physical presence upfront was a refreshing sight to fans showing a strong partnership developing with Gerard Moreno. In the 13th minute. Dia took the ball around the keeper with a slightly heavy touch. Through on goal, he laid the ball back to Pino who shot was saved by the keeper

19 minutes in Gerard dropped back into the midfield to collect the ball. With a beautiful pass, he caught Dia on the run through the middle. The Senegal man unleashed a ferocious shot with went just wide of the post.

His final chance of the first half came in the 34th minute. With the lightning pace and stamina almost Haaland like through the middle, he launched a shot from outside of the box which just flew over the board

Villarreal was hoping to break one of their worst records that they haven’t won an opening game of the season since 2014. Sadly, that wasn’t to be in the second half.

73 minutes in came Villarreal’s best and only chance of the second half. Bandaged Manu Trigueros sent in a beautiful curling cross into the box. Gerard Moreno stepped up and sent a spinning header that floated just over the post.

As can be expected with any game involving Granada there will be challenges and yellow cards. In this match, it was Juan Foyth that saw 2 yellow cards in an otherwise flawless performance.

Despite the red card, the final three chances came to Villarreal. Gerard Moreno sent an audacious lob over the keeper only to be cleared by veteran Foulquier in the final few minutes. This toped of a highly physical but frustrating match 0-0 for the Yellow Submarine