Villarreal sends a message in the European race against RCD Mallorca

Villarreal 4-0 RCD Mallorca

After a worrying moment of form for Villarreal, Marcelino García Toral’s team recovered on Monday night against RCD Mallroca, in a match that ended before half an hour.

Both teams started timidly, with Villarreal making more progress than the visitors. However, it didn’t take them long to capitalize on their extra ambition as a corner from the left was headed home by centre-back Logan Costa to give Villarreal the lead. That started a carousel of Villarreal players that made Los Bermellones dizzy.

Just four minutes later, Villarreal caught the ball in their own half, but wasted no time and released Alex Baena through the center of the field, with acres to gallop. Advancing, Baena took advantage of left back Sergi Cardona and showed all the necessary desire to enter the area and finish Cardona’s precise ball between defender and goalkeeper.

However, a shocked Mallorca were unable to return to action, and just two minutes later Villarreal scored the third. Dani Parejo was the instigator of this attack, and Cardona was once again key in the supply chain. This time, when Cardona’s ball came in from the left, Thierno Barry touched it to the edge of the area and Parejo shot it back the way it had come, low into the left corner to make it three goals to zero.

In the 28th minute the game was definitively resolved. Once again Cardona was involved, and again Jagoba Arrasate’s team were unable to close down the left side, with his ball this time precisely measured at the far post for Yeremy Pino to score the fourth goal, and his first since returning from a ligament injury. anterior crusader. injury.

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The match never really recovered from such a ruthless sequence, and while RCD Mallorca stopped that flow of attacks, Dominik Greif was forced to make two more good saves in the second half. Arrasate made four changes at half-time and saw a more competitive Mallorca, but little more than that. Their best chance came with a Vedat Muriqi header that went wide. Villarreal put together some more organized plays, but none with liquid movement in their three movements in the first half that ended the game.

Marcelino’s men achieved their first clean sheet in two months and a first victory in a month, which keeps them fifth and reduces the distance with Athletic Club to sixth position. Mallorca could have replaced them both in terms of points and position with a win, but Arrasate will work harder than he has all season: his team remains sixth, two points ahead of Real Sociedad and three behind their hosts in Castellón.