Villarreal’s ‘Manita’, who shows Levante the way to Second

Villarreal did not give an option to surprise and in their first game in 2022 they passed over Levante, which they overwhelmed at La Cerámica, beating them 5-0. The ‘Submarine’, which He left the meeting sentenced before the break, He maintained the excellent dynamics with which he ended last year, chaining his fourth victory and showing his candidacy for Europe after having left behind a bad league start. The ‘Europa League zone’ already has it only two points away and the ‘Champions places’, four.

Diametrically opposite is the situation of Levante, that continues without raising its head and without winning a game after 19 games played (27 consecutive games without winning if those from the final stretch of last season are added). With only eight points added, at nine of salvation, the panorama of the granotas is discouraging. After three coaches the team shows no signs of life, continues to be a drain on defense, and the relegation to Second Division it is a more and more real option.

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Villarreal, for now, showed it to him in La Cerámica. Unai Emery’s team barely disheveled to tie up the win. Before the quarter of an hour he was already half on track. DayAfter a great play by Chukwueze’s wing, he made it 1-0 in minute 8. Four later, on a corner kick, Pau Torres, at the far post, signed the 2-0. The Levante defense was a verbena and the groguets took advantage of it.

Villarreal had controlled the game against a rival who never gave a feeling of being able to level it. To add insult to injury Alessio Lisci could not count on the ‘commander’ Morales, after having tested positive for Covid-19. The charismatic forward had not missed a league game for more than three years. The last time he did not play was on November 24, 2018, in Huesca, then due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

Thus, Villarreal limited itself to setting the pace of the match until finding the moment to leave it seen for sentence, which it achieved in the 37th minute, when Gerard Moreno He took advantage of the passivity of the rival defense to stand inside the area and beat Aitor Fernández, today a starter to the detriment of Cárdenas. With 3-0 it was reached the rest.

He did not change the script after passing through the changing rooms. Lisci, despite being aware that it was very crude, did not introduce variations in the ‘eleven’. If the game seemed to balance out at times, it was more because Villarreal took their foot off the accelerator than due to the merits of Levante. It was not until the hour when the technician introduced a triple change that, as expected, did not work any miracle.

Villarreal continued to his own and when he pressed a little he had clear chances to increase his advantage on the scoreboard, although two shots of Manu Trigueros they were met with a great response from Aitor Fernández. At the third time the midfielder had, he no longer forgave. He recovered a ball and launched a shell that slipped through the squad (4-0, min. 74).

The Levant was decomposed and asking for the time so as not to accept a more bulky defeat, which he did not get, because Gerard Moreno made the fifth, the second of his account, after scoring at pleasure from Pino’s pass.

It was not a question of making more firewood from the fallen tree. Emery removed Trigueros and Gerard Moreno, the best, from the field and the 5-0 ended up being the final score, a result that evidenced the gulf between the two teams.