Villarreal dropped points for a consecutive time in the La Liga this season, but maintained their impressive unbeaten home league record against Sevilla after grinding out a scrappy 1-1 draw.
The draw which featured Super Eagles winger Samuel Chukwueze and saw goals from Sevilla’s Oliver Torres and Alex Baena saw the struggling meant the visitors have now won just once in their opening six matches.
The visitors were aiming to make it back-to-back victories in La Liga for the first time since the start of January.
The first half
Sevilla looked desperate to claim a win and hence, started at an electric pace. Former Real Madrid man Isco did brilliantly to claim his first assist in Sevilla colours, finding Torres inside Villarreal’s box for a great finish and 1-0.
Despite hitting the bar through a Dani Parejo wonder strike, the hosts offered very little in the first half.
Unai Emery, clearly unimpressed with his side, made the early substitution of Giovani Lo Celso for Baena after 30 minutes.
The second half
After the break, it was the substitute that changed the game for Villarreal after Francis Coquelin’s through ball allowed him to poke past Marko Dmitrovic to score his third league goal of the season and make it 1-1.
Baena continued to be the most dangerous player on the pitch well into the second half and was incredibly unlucky not to double his tally for the game after doing brilliantly to cut inside, unleashing a low shot that was cleared off the line by Marcos Acuna.
Sevilla’s great defensive work was almost undone by a terrible tackle by Alex Telles on Yeremy Pino.
After initially giving away a penalty, the full-back was saved by a VAR intervention for the tightest of offsides. The shared point sees Sevilla move up to 15th, while Villarreal drop from 5th to 6th.