Europa League

Villarreal 1 – Napoli 0

Villarreal: Areola; Mario Gaspar, Musacchio, Víctor Ruíz, Jaume Costa; Jonathan Dos Santos (Samu Castillejo 35’), Manu Trigueros (Tomás Pina 72’), Bruno, Denis Suárez; Soldado, Leo Baptistao (Bakambu 60’). 4-4-2.
Napoli: Reina; Hysaj, Chiriches, Koulibaly, Strinic; Hamsik, Valdifiori, David López (Allan Marques 82’); Callejón (Insigne 72’), Gabbiadini (Higuaín 66’), Mertens. 4-3-3.

Goals:
1-0. 82. Denis Suárez. Struck free kick past Pepe Reina and in off crossbar.

A late free kick from Denis Suárez gave Villarreal a 1-0 victory over Napoli in the first leg of their Europa League tie. Marcelino’s side had the hardest draw of any of the La Liga teams, although with one eye on the Italian league title, visiting coach Sarri left the likes of top scorer Higuaín on the bench. There were several well know faces in the line-up though, none less than keeper Pepe Reina, who made a brilliant recovery to save from Soldado early on. Higuaín’s replacement Gabbiardini went close a couple of times before the break, and Spanish international Callejón headed just wide soon after the restart. Bakambu fired a good chance into the stands though later on in the second half, and with eight minutes to go Suárez struck his free kick in off the crossbar to make it twelve games without defeat for his team.