Gerard avoids a bad drink of Villarreal in the Cup

A double of the striker qualifies Villarreal against an Orihuela who was about to force the penalty shootout

Gerard Moreno avoided the Villarreal A bad drink in the Copa del Rey. Javi Calleja's team was only a couple of minutes away from having to play the pass to the next round in the lottery, which is always a penalty shootout. A goal of the Catalan striker, who had already advanced to the yellows in the second half, left Orihuela with honey on his lips (1-2). The great night of his goalkeeper, Aitor, and some errors of the referee had kept him alive but he had to end up succumbing to the evidence.

The Orihuela it is not Comillas, as Andrés Fernández could see when just ten minutes had elapsed. The goalkeeper, who barely had to intervene in the previous tie, was forced out to cover a pass behind the back of the Pitu defense. The Alicante team, however colist it may be in Group III of Second B, defends and attacks better than the Riojans and this led to the crash leaving the break just as it had begun.

It was taken for granted that the Villarreal He was going to dominate, as his possession percentage showed above seventy percent at rest, but he didn't know how to reflect it on the scoreboard. The Calleja team insisted above all on the bands, trying to take advantage of the additions of Mario and Alberto Moreno and the presence of two born extremes such as Chukwueze and Ontiveros, but barely managed to develop the orderly defense of Alicante, which practically planted a line of five and another four ahead of his goalkeeper.

The fact is that the yellow set, green in Los Arcos, barely generated a couple of times in the first half, well resolved by Aitor. The Orihuela goalkeeper cleared a shot from Bacca, in frank position after receiving a great pass from Cazorla in the area. He also resolved well a header of the Spaniard in the small area, in the center of Trigueros, which he took with his foot. Ontiveros hunted him, but his shot ran into Pina's foot. The Orihuela also starred in some more approach taking advantage of a mismatch of the yellow defense but Andrés Fernández solved Solano's shot well.

The entrance of Gerard after the break he gave another air to the yellow attack, where Bacca was too alone. It was the Catalan striker who broke the equality with a good movement, lowering with his chest a good pass from Moi Gómez that was enough to dribble the goalkeeper and leave him alone before the goal. Before, the goalkeeper had again denied the goal to Bacca and cleared a dangerous shot from Cazorla from the front.

The Orihuela, aware of its limitations, limited itself to trying to exploit the backlash and after a couple of serious notices got the goal that sent the tie to extra time. Pitu, the most unruly in the Alicante attack, ran through the band that Mario had neglected and served Brian, whose first shot Andrés Fernández took but not the second.

It was possible to avoid the extra time of having validated the referee to a goal of Bacca, invalidated by an offside that, in the absence of VAR, did not give the impression of being in the repetition. A situation that was repeated in extra time, after a pass from Morlanes that left the Colombian before Aitor, whom he beat down. Again the striker seemed to be in line. What did not admit any doubt, except for Melero López, was the clear penalty that was the subject Casserole, rolled in the area by a defender.

While Villarreal was accumulating reasons for the grievance with the referee, Aitor He was growing his list of miracles by getting two shots of Bacca and Gerard at close range. But nothing could be done before the last cartridge of the Catalan, a shot that was poisoned after touching a defense and ended the dream of Orihuela.