The magic of a man with inexhaustible quality like Santi Cazorla, author of two penalty goals and of the play that unleashed the duel against Getafe, ended the Madrid team, who lost 1-3 and regretted the decisions of the VAR, final to decide an excessively tactical duel.
Cazorla is inexhaustible. His resources do not seem to end and his appearance in the second half, with an exceptional pass over Moi Gómez, was key in a very cumbersome game. He had the help of the VAR, who on two occasions opted for Villarreal’s side to unsettle a team, Getafe, who is crying out for the season to end.
The “war” announced by Javi Calleja and the “very direct” duel defined by José Bordalás presaged a conservative clash of two of the most antagonistic rivals of those who fight for Europe in the last days that remain to finish the League.
1
Getafe
Soria; Nyom, Djené, Etxeita, Olivera; Arambarri, Timor (Hugo Duro, m. 69); Jason (Portillo, m.69), Maksimovic, Cucurella (Amath, m.88); and Jaime Mata (Ángel, m. 57).
3
ViIlarreal
Asenjo; Peña, Albiol, Pau Torres, Alberto Moreno; Iborra, Anguissa, Cazorla (Trigueros, m. 88), Ontiveros (Gaspar, m. 89); Chukwueze (Moi Gómez, m. 52) and Gerard Moreno.
- goals:
0-1, m. 66: Cazorla, from a penalty; 1-1, m- 80: Hugo Duro; 1-2, m. 86: Cazorla, from a penalty; 1-3, m.93: Peña.
- Referee:
Estrada Fernández (Catalan Committee). He showed yellow cards to Soria (m. 62), Ángel (m. 69) and Arambarri (m. 84) by Getafe, and Gerard Moreno (m. 90) by Villarreal.
- incidents:
artido corresponding to the thirty-fifth day of LaLiga Santander played behind closed doors at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez de Getafe.
On the one hand, Villarreal, one of the best after the return of the competition after three months of confinement. With six victories and one defeat, the last day against Barcelona (1-4), the Castellón team had turned their dubious situation in the center of the table towards another more generous with continental dreams.
On the other side, Getafe, with only one victory and seven points out of 21 possible, emerged as one of the clubs most affected by the LaLiga stoppage. However, his good campaign until the start of the state of alarm left a cushion of points that has allowed him to maintain his European aspirations.
Bordalás raised the match against Villarreal as a fight for midfield. He changed his usual 4-4-2 for a 4-5-1 and introduced David Timor in the midfield to accumulate men and own a very important part of the green.
Calleja answered with Javi Ontiveros in the place of the Nigerian Samu Chukwueze, whom he advanced to replace the loss in attack of Paco Alcácer. Technique against muscle. Tap against pressure. More watermarks versus more direct play.
As a result of that script, both teams signed a first part of annulment, of corset football and with few arrivals. Just an Ontiveros kick from far away that was about to surprise David Soria and a header from the Serbian Nemanja Maksimovic that Sergio Asenjo caught without difficulty, added to the list of opportunities of the initial act.
Getafe managed to cancel their rival, but lacked dynamism above. With his physical deployment, he turned Villarreal into a useless team that awaited his options in the second half, in which Bordalás’s men were expected to be affected by fatigue.
However, Getafe returned reinforced from passing through the locker room. He got a little more fluidity and for many minutes he played in the opposite field. And, above all, he was hardly disturbed until the 60th minute, with a poisoned foul taken by Santi Cazorla.
Bordalás had achieved his objective, to completely annul his rival. The second highest-scoring team in LaLiga behind Real Madrid had only tested Soria twice and the last half hour was going to be key in the interests of a team that could only get ahead with a flash.
This one left Cazorla. The Villarreal midfielder is in an exceptional moment, aging like good wine and signing one of his best seasons. He showed it with another play that marks the house that opened the game. A magnificent pass between the Azulona defense that left Moi Gómez against David Soria served for the Getafe goalkeeper to commit a penalty that the VAR had to review.
Cazorla himself was in charge of transforming the maximum penalty and reached his ninth both this year in LaLiga and number 13 in official competitions to overcome his best historical record that he achieved at Arsenal with 12 in the 2012/13 academic year.
Incredible numbers for a 35-year-old player who until recently had his career compromised due to a damaged ankle and with a single gesture he unleashed a duel in which Getafe had not yet said his last word.
Bordalás’s changes took effect and the entrances to the field by Francisco Portillo and youth squad Hugo Duro had their effect. Both connected in a corner and Hugo Duro, with a header, scored his first league goal that he celebrated as if he had won a title.
However, again the same protagonists, Moi Gómez and VAR, gave Villarreal an advantage. This time it was Portillo who knocked down the player from Castellón, who fell into the area after poorly controlling a ball and receiving a touch from his rival on the foot.
Xavier Estrada Fernández looked at the play on the screen and decreed the second maximum penalty of the match that Cazorla did not waste, the man who oxygenated a game destined for the tie and who with his cold blood gave a definitive blow to the European goals of Villarreal. Peña’s final goal, in added time, was only an ornament to his teammate’s exhibition.
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