Villarreal 1-0 Girona – Betting Review
Match Summary
In an extremely tense ending where the referee did everything he could to help Villarreal over the line, a defensive-minded Girona was undone in the 11th minute of stoppage time.
Villarreal won 1-0 thanks to a highly controversial spot-kick in the 100th minute.
Amazingly, it was their second non-existent penalty award in added time and much needed to break the will of a stubborn and combative 10-men Girona.
The hosts at best were rewarded for the intensity and the attitude of going for the win, but they must thank the referee first for giving them two of their best chances. Fair scores are 2-1 and 1-1.
Villarreal looked comfortable in the early going and didn’t waste time establishing the tempo and pace of the match, and that dominance quickly translated to danger.
In the same play, Yéremy Pino and Álex Baena came close in the opening 15 minutes, but both attempts were denied by either Paulo Gazzaniga or the post.
Girona started to settle on the ball but such was the frenetic tempo of the game, they rarely sustained possession. They did however miss the clearest chance when Reina blocked from close range.
Nothing changed in the second half and Girona increasingly sat deeper, clearly content now to escape with a 0-0 draw.
Villarreal had the best chance of the second half through Chukwueze, but once more the final shot or pass was off. Girona was reduced to ten men on 79 when Bueno saw his second yellow.
The final minutes of the contest had all the scoring action that lacked in the second half. Though in truth the best chances were two penalty kicks that the referee was wrong to award.
Gerard Moreno could not convert the first referee offering in the 95th-minute spot kick. Justice was done when the keeper got down low and held.
Girona then had a goal ruled out due to a close offside at the other end.
The host continued to push hard and Villarreal had a second chance to score from the spot in the 100th minute, another incredibly generous penalty. This time, Dani Parejo coolly converted from the spot and lifted Villarreal to victory.
Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first, where the favourite for this game Villarreal just about squeezed the win @ 1.75. Girona were incredibly hard done by given the award of the spot kick that came in the 100th minute. It is fair to say the home side did a lot more to try and get the points, but without the referee gift, it would have been 0-0.
Moving onto the Asian handicap market for this contest. Villarreal backers -0.75 @ 1.96 got a fortunate half win thanks to the penalty award. The home side did show all the ambition the longer the game went on, but were never good enough to win this by more than one goal.
Looking at The Under/Over market last of all which never really got close due to great keeping and woodwork in entertaining first half which merited a goal or two. The only tally the game saw could not have come any later, but it was a match which merited 2 or more goals so the line was fair enough. The Under was a comfortable winner in the end @ 1.87.
