Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first, where the home side Villarreal managed to justify favouritism @ 2.00 to get a win. It was not comfortable and by the time they went ahead on 88 minutes, they were reaching a double figure price. That said, for the chances created and their overall performance after conceding a cheap goal to Valencia, the victory was deserved.
Moving onto the Asian handicap market for this contest. As we outlined in the preview, at the time of publishing the piece, any Villarreal backers would have found more value in the 1×2 market than the asian handicap. Either way, Villarreal -0.5 was @ 1.96 was the winner thanks to a very late goal.
Looking at The Under/Over market last of all where Over 2.5 was the winning selection @ 1.90. Our Preview for this game anticipated an entertaining contest and it helped the Overs with Valencia scoring so soon after kick-off. That said, the all-important 3rd goal to send it ‘over’ did not arrive until a couple of minutes from full-time. With this in mind the under/over line at 2.5 was well placed.
Match Summary
Triumphant Villarreal marked the long-awaited reopening of their stadium with a last-gasp 2-1 win in an entertaining and high-octane derby.
There was a great atmosphere in an excited sold-out ground, and that special dynamic was telling as a full-blooded and relentless Villarreal bounced back from the worst possible start to snatch a late win.
Hoping to mark the occasion of a rejuvenated Estadio de la Cerámica which had undergone a seven-month hiatus as refurbishment. Villarreal should have been ahead with less than two minutes gone. However, making his first start in La Liga since mid-September, Gerard Moreno somehow managed to fire wide and miss a sitter.
Valencia remained on the backfoot but against the run of play, Pepe Reina was picking the ball out of the back of his net. The veteran keeper failed to hold Samuel Lino’s shot and Cavani tucked home the rebound.
Quique Setién’s side pinned back their local rivals and finally got level before halftime. In the first minute of stoppage-time Chukwueze fired Moreno’s pin-point pass into the net for 1-1.
Villarreal went on the front foot in the second half and had more of the play.
Valencia was lucky not to be reduced to ten men the referee let Eray Cömert off the hook with only a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Álex Baena.
Moreno once more went close for the host who looked more probable to turn one point into three. With the match heading for a draw, defender Juan Foyth raised the roof off the Estadio de la Cerámica, heading Dani Parejo’s inswinging corner past Mamardashvili. The Valencia keeper had kept his team in this match after their fast start but 2-1 is a perfectly fair result.
