LaLiga Santander | Gerard Moreno seals Villarreal’s European place in the 94th minute

Quique Setién’s paintingdespite the absences due to suspension of Pau Torres and Daniel Parejo, it reaffirmed itself as the best team in the tournament in recent weeks by chaining the fifth matchday without defeat and the fifth win against the Catalan team.

Míchel Sánchez’s team put an end to a four-game streak without losing and is left at the expense of their rivals to maintain seventh place and the ticket to the Conference League.

The two teams sought to combine and create danger from the first bars of a very disputed first act, with alternatives in the initiative and in possession. The first goal only took nine minutes to arrive.

Nicolas Jackson took advantage of a serious mistake by Santi Bueno when trying to clear a ball, He ran alone towards the goal and when he stood before Paulo Gazzaniga he gave the ball to his right so that Pino celebrated the 0-1 at will.

Girona harassed the setback conceded in the first instance, but soon recovered their verticality and took a step forward while Villarreal waited behind their options to exploit the speed of Samuel Chukwueze, Jackson and Pino to counterattack and get the duel back on track.

The locals improved and disturbed the opponent with a shot by Rodrigo Riquelmeafter a great individual action, which Pepe Reina stopped in two stages.

It was the epilogue of the 1-1, in minute 24, in a free kick served by Riquelme himself, prolonged by Arnau Martínez and finally holed out by David López.

Before the break, Villarreal was able to take the lead again with a shot by Pino, a positive and also a negative protagonist: the referee Pizarro Gómez forgave him the second yellow after half an hour of play in an action in which he hit a ball at the stands.

Equality continued to be the dominant note upon returning from the locker room, although the two teams lost control because they advanced lines in search of victory.

Étienne Capoue put Gazzaniga to the test with a long shot and Girona came close to making it 2-1 with a shot from Castellanos that missed the goal. Right after the Argentine gave his place to Cristhian Stuani and David López to Yangel Herrera, unpublished since February 5 due to injury.

Setién also redoubled his offensive bet with the entry of Gerard and Giovani Lo Celso, but the goal was closer to being local than ‘groguet’. In the 69th minute, the referee disallowed a Viktor Tsygankov goal for offside by Stuani on the assist. Immediately afterwards, Reina repelled a hard shot from Riquelme.

Local dominance was indisputable, but in the final stretch Villarreal cheered up. He first notified through Manu Trigueros and in the 94th minute the local sadness and the visiting joy arrived, after a free kick taken by Girona and the umpteenth counterattack by Jackson. Gerard finished off the ball from ’15’ to the far post to attack Montilivi.