La Liga, Week 28
Alavés 1–1 Villarreal
Under the Vitoria rain and in a soccer match which at times could have been mistaken by a rugby one, Alavés and Villarreal split the points; Villarreal barely took his point home.
Alavés arrived at this fixture in crisis: five matches without a win and new manager Quique Sánchez Flores still trying to find the best way to deploy his new players after a both hopeful and brutal debut at Mestalla, in a match they, like today, let slip in the dying moments. The crowd at Mendizorroza was hungry today, you could feel it. Marcelino, who in the pre-match conference spoke exactly to what he was up against, knew exactly what kind of evening was waiting for them as he tried to sign on the dotted line of his 100th win managing Villarreal.
These kinds of small but larger-than-life stadiums often dictate these kinds of games. What Alavés does is not complicated on paper: they press hard, they win second , third and fourth balls. They make the pitch feel like a wrestling match, and they wrap their entire crowd into a snowball and launch it right at your face. The locals don’t let up; God forbid you give them a corner. Villarreal, as it is the case in many night in Mendizorroza stadium, was not able to match that intensity.
The first half fully belonged to Alavés. Boyé, the hero at Mestalla, caused problems constantly; Angel was everywhere on the right. This right winger gives me Joaquin vibes; calling it now. Villarreal struggled to find their passing lanes and offered almost nothing going forward in the first half. In the 40th minute, things wot worse: Ibáñez skinned Cardona with a brilliant individual run, whipped a cross into the box and Toni Martínez flicked a backheel that deflected off Rafa Marín’s head (although it looked more like Rafa tried to clear it on purpose) looping it into his own net.
Quique celebrated like it was a league title; the temporary win meant five points between them and bottom three.
Villarreal in the meantime had a couple of chances before the halftime, but Alavés goalkeeper Sivera denied them twice at close range.
Second half: Rain, mud, and a moment of genius
By the time the second half began, the rain had intensified and the pitch at Mendizorroza turned into something closer to a swimming pool than a football surface. Alavés, sitting on their lead, leaned into it. It was a cold night at Stoke on a Tuesday.
Marcelino turned to his bench, bringing on Gerard Moreno and Moleiro in the 59th minute in an attempt to find a different solution, as the double left-back of Pedraza and Cardona not having worked all match. They subs sparked some life, bgut the struggle continued. Moreno is still out of form, and Moleiro has dipped his performances as of late. Partey came on later to add physicality to a midfield that had been second to almost every loose ball; things improve moderately in that area but with no end result.
Villarreal started to enjoy more of the ball as Alavés retreated slowly but surely. They had a few clearer chances and even hit the bar. It seemed as though luck was with the locals.
By the time nine minutes of injury time were announced, Alavés were defending desperately. Quique, fuming on the touchline, couldn’t understand why the referee had added so much time, and was very clear with his discontent in the post-match press conference. In the 98th minute Pépé collected a pass from Moreno in the area and with his left foot after finding space, hit an absolute thunderbolt exactly and milimetricallty into the top corner to tie the match. The shot was nothing short of Yamal-esque.
Immediately after, the match was over. The Alavés players melted into the ground, and Villarreal celebrated with about 25 soaked Groguet fans in the corner flag. Marcelino’s men absolutely count the point as a good one in their march to top four and, for the first time ever, a consecutive UCL qualifications.
What Marcelino said
The Villarreal manager was honest in his post-match assessment and admitted his team was not at the level they could reach, but also that he could not recall ever having a good game at this stadium. He did point to the constant interruptions, mentioning how one Alavés player “went to ground six or seven times”, as something that robbed Villarreal of any chance of finding qny tempo to the game. Despite all of that, he framed the 1-1 as a result with merit given the circumstances. At one point, he admitted, they believed they were going to lose.
On Pépé specifically, Marcelino did not spare any compliments. He compared the goal to the kind of thing Lamine Yamal does, “Peeling a cobweb off the top corner”, and noted that Pépé had been building toward this moment over recent weeks. With the final stretch of the season approaching, including a crucial fixture against Real Sociedad, Marcelino believes this goal could be the “Confidence boost” Pépé needs to carry Villarreal through.
Worth noting:
Pépé has indeed made a habit of being the man for the big moment. He was poor for large stretches of this match, but when it mattered most, he delivered something special. If he found more consistency in his performances, he would absolutely be a decision maker for Villarreal in tournaments like the Champions League.
Sivera was enormous when called upon; the local goalkeeper made two point-blank saves from Comesaña just before half time and was named MVP of the match.
Better luck next time:
Cardona had a difficult evening against Ibáñez and was substituted early in the second half. It was not his night, but beyond that, the left-back, one of the best in terms of assistst last season, is missing the amount of attention and space Baena gave him. He had miles ahead of him with the now Atletico player attracting so many defenders as he caused chaos; now he finds himself unable to make an impact offensively.
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