Villarreal destroys Levante and places fifth

Villarreal won with forceful victory at the Ciutat de València and climbed to fifth position in the table taking advantage of Real Betis' puncture against Valencia. The Castellón team, who were facing the match after qualifying for the fifth time in their history in a European competition semifinals, took advantage of the facilities that Levante gave them in defense, an area in which Gerard Moreno and Samu Chukwueze caused havoc. Those of Unai Emery confirmed that they are a terrible rival away from La Cerámica. Not surprisingly, they are the second best away team in the competition and have solved their last five trips with two draws and three wins.

The rotations that Emery introduced, dispensing with the entry of Albiol, Trigueros, Capoué and Alcácer, did not diminish Villarreal's potential against Levante in the quiet zone of the classification and that reached the clash with the intention of adding three points to leave virtually sealed permanence. The desire for granota soon ran into harsh reality, because in just twelve minutes the “Submarine” torpedoed him and left the victory on track. Postigo scored on his own goal when trying to clear a 'death pass' from Mario Gaspar and in the blink of an eye Gerard Moreno made the 0-2, a real goal, breaking Duarte's waist and putting the ball masterfully away from Aitor's reach.

Levante, without its three starting midfielders (Radoja, Vukcevic and Campaña) were totally broken, but they got into the game thanks to a gift from Capoué. Asenjo gave him the ball at the front of the area, he did not see Malsa coming from behind, who would steal his wallet and then beat the goalkeeper at will.

The goal raised hopes for Paco López's team, who began to talk to his adversary, arriving at rest with swords raised high.

After passing through the changing rooms, Villarreal limited themselves to waiting for their opportunity to sentence. He did it at game time, when a great deep pass from Gerard Moreno was received by Alcácer, who had replaced Bacca. The Valencian gave the ball to Chukwueze and the Nigerian did not forgive Aitor.

The 1-3 was already a slab that Levante could not lift, which even scored another own goal again, this time by Rubén Vezo, in the first ball he touched after entering the grass, after Aitor reject a shot from Alcácer. The icing on the cake would be finished by the ubiquitous Chukwueze, culminating a counter and after breaking the offside. A very eloquent 1-5 final, which punished a very weak Levante in defense and rewarded a Villarreal that almost everything he touched in attack turned into gold.

(+) See the summary and all the goals of the match: