All’s well that ends well, Pacheta must have thought as he entered the locker room. La Cerámica were upset in the end after Sorloth scored a goal in the 94th minute that gave Villarreal the win, although it seemed impossible for much of the second half. Even the draw against Almería seemed good considering what we saw. But Pacheta played with both towers (Sorloth-Brereton) and lateral centers in the last quarter of an hour. “Get out, middle, ready…” repeats the man from Burgos. “Go outside, to the middle, ready…”. And so the winning goal came. If something doesn’t work, you have to look for solutions. And sometimes the simplest thing works. And it worked for Pacheta.
Almería had it in their hands to get their first win of the season and emerge victorious from Vila-real for the first time. Moreno’s team was better than Villarreal but lacked penetration. And they had plenty of Jorgensen, the controversial goalkeeper who has proven he has enough quality and wood to be the keeper of the yellow goal for many years to come. Robertone, Luis Suárez (he didn’t save him, but he saved him for the Colombian to miss), Lopy and especially Ramazani can be responsible for this.
The first 40 minutes between Villarreal and Almería were tough. Pacheta’s men had the ball, but they were still pondering Pacheta’s initial instructions and barely reached the opponent’s area. Moreno’s men seemed to better interpret the Valencian’s score in a crouched position. Luis Suárez dropped to the wing and from there they tried to create danger. Embarba was assessed a penalty, but neither the referee saw it nor did the VAR warn him.
On the edge of half-time, a mistake by the yellow defense led to Akieme’s goal. No one put pressure on Arribas and he let Akieme shoot over the defense to Jorgensen. Far from becoming frustrated, Villarreal let go. In stoppage time, youth player Romero received his death pass in search of Baena, but it reached Gerard, who spun like a dancer in the penalty area and beat Maximiano in the 49th minute of the first half.
In the second half, Villarreal’s confusion was even greater. Pacheta wanted to equalize with Comesaña in the center, but Almería stole and was a dagger man, shooting against Jorgensen’s goal with several men. But despite the Swedish-Norwegian goalkeeper and defensive adjustments, Vicente Moreno was unable to celebrate a goal from the bench. It seemed unbelievable that Almería couldn’t win this game.
In the last ten minutes, Pacheta changed the script. With Alberto Moreno on the field, he brought Brereton to form the striker duo with Sorloth, very close to each other and in the penalty area. This way they could at least corner Almería in goal and something could happen. And it came last. Alberto Moreno scored it and Sorloyh, an aerial specialist, hammered Maximiano’s goal, also in the 49th minute… of the second half.
Changes
Santi Comesana (61′, Carlos Romero), Alberto Moreno (62′, Étienne Capoue), Great Ramadan (65′, Adri Embarba), Elias Akhomach (72′, Alex Baena), Iddrisu Baba (74′, Melero), Arnau Puigmal (74′, Lucas Robertone), Ben Brereton (84′, Gerard Moreno), Jorge Cuenca (84′, Matteo Gabbia), Ibrahima Kone (87th minute, Luis Suárez), Leo Baptistao (87′, Sergio Arribas)
Goals
0-1, 43′: academy1-1, 49′: Gerard Moreno2-1, 93′: Sörloth
cards
Referee: Francisco José Hernández Maeso
VAR referees: Javier Alberola Rojas, Ignacio Alonso López
Capua (25′, yellow) Get in (52′, yellow) The (83′, yellow) Arnau Martinez (88′, yellow) Jeremy Pino (91′, yellow)
classification
Classification PT PJ PG PE PP
| 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 14 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Classification PT PJ PG PE PP
| 16 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 17 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 18 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 19 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 20 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
