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Villarreal dries Hajduk and seals its pass to the Conference League

The Villarreal qualified this Thursday for the group stage of the Conference League after unhurriedly prevailing in Split al Hajduk por 0-2 in a not very brilliant game of the Spanish team but in which he was able to control the initial momentum of the Croatian boxwhich deserved to finish with at least one goal in favor.

Con a 6-2 aggregate in the tieVillarreal also confirmed their superiority against Hajduk in the second leg and with the ticket for the European draw this Friday, they thus obtained the first objective of the course after having had to play the last round of the Conference League qualifying phase.

Unai Emery placed Parejo and Coquelin to have the ball and it took him longer than expected to achieve his plan, although Villarreal almost found a free goal as soon as he started, but Álex Baena shot loose and centered after a resounding error by defender Melnjak. The local team responded immediately with a header from Livaja that went slightly wide.

Livaja’s trade and fight was the only news in attack for Hajduk, who needed to come back from two goals down in the first leg. He put pressure on the Croatian team in the first quarter of an hour, with several arrivals and shots, although without success by the omnipresent Livaja, a former Las Palmas player.

Without a brilliant and very uncomfortable game, Villarreal suffocated their rival’s push as best they could passed the equator of the first act. He breathed even easier with Pedraza’s goal (0-1, m.37), who with his right leg shot very close to the post in an isolated action that did not seem dangerous.

The last chance before the break was, again, for Livaja, with a free kick that narrowly went wide. The tie would not have been unfair at allWell, with more desire and strength than anything else, Hajduk had prevented Villarreal from practicing their usual showy game throughout the first half.

Hajduk turned desperately after the break with Villarreal waiting for a counterattack. Lo Celso failed the first time he had, but in the second counterattack Chukwueze made it 0-2 in the 56th minute with the collaboration of goalkeeper Kalinic, who failed miserably and swallowed the African’s centered shot.

Sentenced the passage of the Spanish team to the group stage of the Conference League, the last half hour of the match was a mere formality. The Hajduk wanted and couldn’t; and when he managed to finish off with danger. Reina was attentive to maintain the 0-2 and sign the European pass with a clean sheet.

Datasheet:

0 – Hajduk Split: Kalinic, Mikanovic (Lovrencsics, m.60), Awaziem, Elez (Simic, m.80), Melnjak (Colina, m.80), Fossati (Vukovic, m.66), Grgic, Sahiti (Mlakar, m.60) , Krovinovic, Biuk and Livaja.

2 – Villarreal CF: Reina, Kiko Femenía (Foyth, m.80), Mandi, Cuenca, Pedraza (Pau Torres, m.80), Chukwueze, Coquelin (Capoue, m.45), Parejo, Álex Baena, Jackson (Morales, m.58) and Lo Celso (Gerard Moreno, m.59).

Goals: 0-1, m.37: Pedraza. 0-2, m.56: Chukwueze.

Referee: Andrew Treimanis (LET). He warned the local Mikanovic and visitors Coquelin, Gerard Moreno and Cuenca.

Incidences: second leg of the final round of the phase prior to the group phase of the Conference League, played at the Poljud stadium in Split (Croatia) in front of some 33,000 spectators.

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