First Division - Day 31

Eibar 1 - Villarreal 2

Eibar: Riesgo; Capa, Mauro Dos Santos, Pantic, Juncà (Luna 73‘); Dani García, Escalante; Keko (Saúl Berjón 88’), Jota, Takashi Inui (Sergi Enrich 62’); Borja Bastón. 4-2-3-1.
Villarreal: Areola; Rukavina, Erik Bailly, Víctor Ruíz, Adrián Marín; Denis Suárez, Tomás Pina, Bruno, Samu Castillejo (Trigueros 68‘); Adrián López (Bakambu 64‘), Soldado (Leo Baptistao 81‘). 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 22. Capa. Drilled shot back past Areola after keeper pushed out Jota cross.
1-1. 35. Adrián López. Tap-in on far post after Riesgo saved shot from Soldado.
1-2. 50. Soldado. From close up after Dani García deflected Denis centre to him.

Yellow cards: Juncà 10’, Rukavina 11’, Capa 50’, Bakambu 70’, Tomás Pina 78’, Mauro Dos Santos 89’.

R Villarreal are looking good for the fourth Champions League spot, a 1-2 victory over Eibar on Sunday evening taking them eight points clear of their nearest rivals. The locals still needed a couple of points or so to ensure they stay up, and Borja Bastón went close before Capa gave them the lead, the full back drilling a shot back past Areola after the keeper pushed Jota’s cross away from Bastón. With ten minutes to go to the break however Adrián López equalized after Riesgo could only deflect Soldado’s angled shot in to his path, and soon after the restart Soldado made it two from close to goal after a Denis Suárez centre came to him off Dani García, the rebound effectively playing him onside. Adrián could have wrapped things up later on when he shot straight at the keeper when free on goal, but Marcelino’s team had already done enough for a victory which takes them a step closer to a return to Europe’s top competition.