Villarreal 0-0 Atletico Madrid
Villarreal and Atletico Madrid played out a goalless draw tonight and it’s probably a result the hosts welcomed more than their visitors.
This clash at the Estadio de la Ceramica was a big one for both teams with Atleti trying to keep pace with the La Liga leaders and Villarreal attempting to halt a slide down the table. And it was Javier Calleja’s Yellow Submarine which achieved its first aim in picking up a valuable point against powerful opponents.
Losing to Barca last week was a serious blow to Atleti’s title hopes, and head coach Diego Simeone will know they’ll probably lose more ground this weekend.
The Villarreal vs Atletico betting odds pointed to a hard-fought game, and so it was, with the Yellow Submarine dominating the first half before Atleti fought back in the second. But the defences were in charge as the draw came in at odds of 3.10.
Highlights of the game
It was a frenetic first half with plenty of goalmouth action, but not too much for the goalkeepers to do as accuracy wasn’t a feature in most efforts on goal.
Los Rojiblancos had the first attempt on just five minutes as Saul Niguez met Renan Lodl’s cross with a close-range header. But the Villarreal defence stood firm and scrambled the ball away.
Only Karim Benzema and Lionel Messi have scored more league goals than Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno’s eight, and he came close to adding a ninth on ten minutes when Moi Gomez swung across a corner but Moreno’s header flew narrowly wide.
Two minutes later Villarreal’s keeper Sergio Asenjo made a smart save, down low to his left when Joao Felix’s shot from outside the box was destined for the corner.
The hosts began to take control of the game, and Atleti’s defence had to be alert to block Raul Albiol’s shot when he latched on to a through ball from Samuel Chukwueze.
Moreno met a Manu Trigueros cross but his header was blocked. And then Trigueros unleashed a shot which was flying towards the top left corner until Atleti keeper Jan Oblak tipped the ball to safety.
Trigueros was at the centre of much of the Yellow Submarine’s attacking play and he sent over a well-aimed corner which Pau Torres headed just over. And then on the stroke of half time, Torres was the provider for Vicente Iborra but his header from very close range missed the target.
The hosts came out for the second half on the front foot and after a fast break Chukwueze met Trigueros’ ball but his shot from a tight angle sailed just over the bar.
Just after the hour mark, Atleti’s young striker Felix had a sight of goal but shot narrowly wide. And then a minute later, he fired one towards the bottom right corner but Asenjo made a great save the keep the scores level.
At the other end, Pau Torres passed to Moreno and the top scorer shot narrowly wide but Atleti fought back and Niguez, Morata, and Koke all came close to breaking the deadlock.
Felix had another shot charged down with five minutes left on the clock, and then the young Portuguese striker took a nod down from Alvaro Morata and let fly but was off target.
Key statistics
The first half only yielded three shots on target, two for Villarreal and one for Atletico. But the hosts had unleashed 16 efforts in total, though Atleti came the closest when Felix had his early effort saved by Asenjo.
The Portuguese star continued to threaten in the second half as Atleti fought back, and the shot count margin narrowed with Villarreal registering 23 to Atleti’s 18 with each team with three on target.
In failing to score both teams couldn’t break an unhelpful sequence. Villarreal is now without a win in six and Atleti without an away win in seven.
What’s next?
With this tough contest over, Villarreal and Atleti fans can sit back and watch the La Liga 2019 updates roll in over the weekend.
But then next up it’s the Champions League for Simeone’s men who have a chance to progress from Group D with a home game against Locomotiv Moscow.
A win will see them through, but with group leaders Juventus playing third-placed Bayer Leverkusen it would be a particularly awful night for Simeone if Los Rojiblancos missed out.
And next week there’s more action for SBOBET La Liga fans to enjoy when the Yellow Submarine has a difficult trip away to title-chasing Sevilla. But Calleja can take plenty of confidence from tonight’s performance.
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