Etienne Capoue fires Villarreal past Unai Emery’s Aston Villa

Villarreal overcame Aston Villa and former boss Unai Emery on Thursday night as they continue their preparations for the return of competitive club football.

The Yellows will have been out of action for over a month by the time they return to competitive action, due to the World Cup.

The Yellows face Guijuelo on December 20 in the Copa del Rey before returning to La Liga action on December 31, against rivals Valencia.

In the meantime, Quique Setién’s men have been competing in friendlies, and building on a win and a defeat during their trip to Turkey, the Yellows defeated Premier League side Villa at Villa Park on Thursday night.

Villarreal CF

It was a rather frantic game in Birmingham, with both sides having plenty of chances against second choice goalkeepers - both Villarreal’s Geronimo Rulli and Villa’s Emi Martinez are part of the Argentina squad that has reached the World Cup final.

But it was the Yellows who came out on top with a second-half winner from Etienne Capoue, Villarreal caught the hosts trying to play out of their own box and took full advantage, working it to Capoue, who showed striker-like composure to delay his show before firing low into the far bottom corner.

Of course, a friendly win means very little, but this is valuable time for Setién to get his ideas across following a rocky start to his tenure, and it was always going to feel nice to get one over on old boss Emery.

Villarreal are next in action on Saturday, when they face Napoli in another friendly clash.