Newly promoted La Liga side Huesca carved open Villarreal with some quick off the ball movement and slick passing, as they earned a 1-1 draw in this weekend’s opening league fixture at the Estadio de la Cerámica.
Pablo Maffeo added the finishing touch to an extraordinary end-to-end routine consisting of seven deadly passes, as Villarreal were too slow to cope with the sharpness of the move.
The move started off from the other end of the pitch with the Huesca goalkeeper passing the ball to the left side of his penalty area. As the ball was progressed to the middle third, midfielder Juan Carlos made an impressive run into space to get to the ball faster than his opponents and provided his teammate with a chance at goal.
Maffeo made no mistake whatsoever, as his clinical strike into the bottom left corner from the right side of the box exemplified the deadliness of Huesca’s routine.
There were hardly any hiccups for the newly promoted side in their first match back in the top flight of Spanish football, as they took on one of the traditional contenders for European competition positions in recent years very well, and almost held on for an impressive win.
Though none of the players turned up for their first game under new manager Unai Emery, Villarreal managed to salvage a draw with assistance from the referee, as they were awarded a penalty kick which Gerard Moreno calmly converted under pressure.
The players are likely to be under scrutiny for the next game, as despite the brilliance of the Huesca move, none of the Villarreal players could get a significant touch of the ball during the move or even put in a tactical challenge to stop it.
