Villarreal 2-1 Arsenal – Match Report, Highlights

Villarreal secured a first-leg Europa League Semi-final advantage against Arsenal on Thursday night’s fixture winning 2-1 at the Estadio de la Ceramica.

Both sides finished the tie with 10 men after Dani Ceballos and Etienne Capoue were both shown two yellow cards each.

Villarreal quickly took the lead after just five minutes when Nigeria International Samuel Chukwueze’s skilful dribble down the right-wing caused havoc for the Arsenal defence. The ball was then nicked off his toes and rifled into the back of the net by Trigueros from a tight angle.

Moments later, Villarreal doubled their lead when a whipped corner into the box was met by Moreno who flicked it on to Albiol. The centre-back who was completely unmarked made no mistake in firing past the goalkeeper.

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With half an hour gone, Arsenal thought they had the chance to reduce the deficit when they were awarded a penalty by the referee. A long ball by Xhaka over the top of the Villarreal defence found Pepe who was then brought down by Foyth in the box.

The penalty was however ruled out by VAR as it was deemed that Pepe had handled the ball in the build-up.

Villarreal hence went into the break with a comfortable 2-goal advantage.

The Gunners started the second half on the front foot. Nicolas Pepe came close but his effort was drilled just wide of the near post.

Things soon got from bad to worse for Arsenal when Dani Ceballos was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Parejo, effectively leading to his dismissal.

Villarreal could have added to their tally in the ensuring minutes when Coquelin spotted the run of Moreno behind the defence. But it was not to be as the forward’s attempt was brilliantly tipped over by Leno.

Mikel Arteta’s side were awarded another penalty in the 72nd minute when Bukayo Saka was brought down by Trigueros in the box.

Nicolas Pepe made no mistake as he buried the penalty down the middle to pull one back for his side.

Minutes after the penalty, both sides were down to 10 men as a collision between Capoue and Saka resulted in the Villarreal man being shown a second yellow card as he was adjudged to have gone in late on the tackle.

Aubameyang who had come on with just five minutes left to play, had a golden opportunity to snatch an equaliser deep into stoppage time. The striker wriggled past his marker and only had Rulli to beat but lost his footing and could only muster an effort which was saved by the keeper.

The result means Unai Emery’s side take a goal advantage into the second leg next week.

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