Villarreal kept up their unbeaten start to the new season wath a 3-1 defeat of Granada at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes.
A very dour first-half will be quickly forgotten, but it did not take long for the game to light up after the restart. A poor pass from Granada goalkeeper Andres Fernandez was seized on by Samu Castillejo, who’s back-heel flick gave Manu Trigueros the opportunity to shoot and the 23-year-old made no mistake.
Only minutes later Villarreal were two in front. Another horrendous pass from Fernandez put Cristiano Biraghi under great pressure and he lost the ball to Trigueros, who squared to Cedric Bakambu for a tap-in.
The introduction of Thievy Bifouma briefly changed the game for El Grana, who went on the front foot for a period. It was the Congolese winger who’s quick feet drew an error from Eric Bailly and Fran Rico was on hand to reduce the deficit.
The Granada pressure was undone as a late Villarreal counter-attack saw a strike from Denis Suarez hit the post, but Samuel Garcia was on-hand for the rebound and put the game out of Granada’s reach.
Granada
Andres Fernandez – 3.5: Little to do until the second-half, but was at fault for two of the opposition’s goals.
Miguel Lopes – 6.5: Battled with Castillejo all afternoon, but came out on the losing end. Picked up a yellow card for an awful challenge on Nahuel and was substituted in the 72nd minute as Granada pushed forward.
David Lomban – 6.5: The better of the two centre-halves. Saw off the danger of Roberto Soldado but went missing to let Bakambu score a tap-in.
Jean-Sylvain Babin – 5.5: An early yellow card for putting his studs into Soldado’s back meant he was on his best behaviour throughout and it affected his performance negatively.
Cristiano Biraghi – 6.5: Dealt with Nahuel admirably, but failed to push forward enough.
Javi Marquez – 5: Very quiet game in the middle of the park. Had very few touches on the ball and did little with them. Substituted in the 63rd minute.
Rene Krhin – 5.5: Played his short passes well but made no impact on the game.
Ruben Perez – 3: Did little of note until he sustained an injury and was replaced in the 22nd minute.
Isaac Success – 7.5: Granada’s best on ground. Gave Juanme Costa a torrid time and was involved in everything good his team did going forward.
Ruben Rochina – 4: Completely anonymous other than taking dead ball situations, and even that task he performed to a sub-par standard.
Youssef El-Arabi – 6.5: Did well to hold up the ball for his team but had little impact on the Villarreal goal.
Substitutes
Fran Rico – 7: Was strong after having to come on early in the first-half. Settled in well, dictated for his team and scored Granada’s consolation goal.
Robert Ibanez – 5: Came on for Marquez in the 63rd minute but did not have much effect on the game.
Thievy Bifouma – 7: Brought in to push his team forward and was influential straight away. Provided the running that led to the goal and showed enough in his 20 minutes to warrant a start next time out.
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Villarreal
Alphonse Areola – 5: Had little to do had no chance to stop Granada’s goal.
Jaume Costa – 6: Was the runner-up in his battle with Success, but did attempt to support Castillejo going forward.
Victor Ruiz – 7: Held up El-Arabi throughout the match and his balls out from the back were vital to Villarreal moving forward.
Eric Bailly – 5: Far too inconsistent from the Ivorian. Occasionally strong in the tackle, but loose passes and his error that led to the goal cast a dark cloud over his performance.
Mario Gaspar – 6: A very quiet game for the stand-in captain, who did very little wrong but had next to no influence.
Samu Castillejo – 7.5: Villarreal’s most dangerous player in the first-half, yet dropped-off as the game wore on. Provided the assist for the first goal with a deft flick.
Manu Trigueros – 7.5: Scorer of the opening goal and the main outlet in the middle of the park.
Tomas Pina – 6.5: A combative performance in the middle and his ability to breakup play was paramount to Villarreal.
Matias Nahuel – 4: Struggled to impose himself on this game at all. Substituted in the 58th minute.
Roberto Soldado – 5.5: Did not receive the balls he needed to impact the game. Full of running but no final product.
Cedric Bakambu – 7.5: Took a while to get into the game but when he did he was a handful for the Granada defence. Scored the second goal after losing his markers and his power and pace made him really difficult to control. Substituted in the 79th minute.
Substitutes:
Denis Suarez – 6.5: Came on for Nahuel and possessed more of a threat going forward.
Samuel Garcia – 5.5: Scored the final goal but did little else.
Adrian Lopez – n/a: His ten minutes on the pitch saw very few touches.
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