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Xerez 2-1 Villarreal: Xerecistas Pick Up First Win
Things have gone from bad to worse in Vila-Real.
Oct 18, 2009 1:55:58 PM
Villarreal are now rooted to the foot of La Liga after Xerez came from behind at the Chapin to pick up their first ever win in the top flight.
Despite an early opener from Robert Pires and some positive play, the Yellow Submarine lost out thanks to strikes from Mario Bermejo and Antonito.
Prior to the game, visiting coach Ernesto Valverde had already pinpointed the match as vital for his side's hopes of leaping out of the relegation zone, and indeed they took the game to the basement boys from the outset.
Robert Pires and Joseba Llorente were proving to be a thorn in the side of the three-man central defence of the hosts, and in fact the pair linked up beautifully to provide the Frenchman with the opening goal after seventeen minutes.
Xerez, though, woke up and almost equalised just five minutes later, but a world-class save from Diego Lopez spared Diego Godin's blushes after he deflected an Emiliano Armenteros effort goalwards.
Much of the good play, in fact, was coming down the left flanks of the two sides, but Javi Venta broke with tradition by providing an excellent run and cross half an hour in, but there were no takers.
Villarreal looked clearly the better attacking side, yet Xerez's audacity saw them equalise just before the break. It came from a corner, Abel Hernandez - on as a substitute for the injured Jesus Mendoza - floating the ball to the near post for the unmarked Mario Bermejo to head in his first goal of the season.
Immediately after the start, Santi Cazorla and Robert Pires combined to play a killer ball across goal, but with Renan Brito stranded Giuseppe Rossi was unable to react to poke the ball into an empty net.
Cazorla was again the architect as his long corner met Llorente for a near-miss, and then Renan was spared a humiliating moment as he almost spilled a cross into the path of Llorente, only to recover at the last moment.
Not to be outdone, Diego Lopez then hit a dreadful clearance at the other end, and was extremely fortunate not to see one of Bermejo and Carlos Calvo hit the target.
Villarreal were fast running out of steam as Xerez grew in defensive confidence heading into the final twenty minutes.
But there was an extremely near-miss for the visitors still to come. Nilmar bustled his way through the Xerez back line to meet a strong goal-kick from Diego Lopez, and found himself one-on-one with Renan. He beat the 'keeper, but watched in horror as the ball smacked off the post and rolled along the goal-line to safety.
The Yellow Submarine rued that missed chance as, ten minutes from time, substitute Antonito Perez scored in controversial fashion: a clearance from Diego Lopez appeared to hit Carlos Calvo's hands and drop to the forward to score.
Marcos Senna picked up a booking for protesting against referee Rubinos Perez's decision to give the goal, which went on to decide the encounter in favour of the hosts.
Villarreal's day was only to become worse as Gonzalo Rodriguez lost his temper and picked up a straight red card for a deliberate foul on Abel as the game drew to a close.
Xerez thus leapfrog Villarreal to 18th place on five points, while Villarreal are, even at this early stage of the season, now embroiled in a fight to avoid their first relegation in a decade as they sit bottom on three points.
Steve Michaels, Goal.com
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