Chapter 99: Champions League qualification

After the Europa League semi-final first leg win over Liverpool, Villarreal immediately turned all their attention back to the domestic league.

Villarreal face Valencia in the 36th round of La Liga, as they are already eight points clear of fifth place in the table, plus a double-digit goal difference, so as long as they don't lose this game, they can secure Champions League qualification for next season.

For the second leg of the Europa League semi-final in midweek, Villarreal clearly stayed strong, but it was Valencia who took the initiative, and as soon as the game started, Parejo turned and volleyed from 25 yards in the middle to try to take the lead, but unfortunately it was slightly wide.

Castillejo was then tackled up front and Valencia's Mina crossed from the right and Negredo's header from just outside the box was denied by Areola, who had been making a rare start recently.

Parejo's performance in this match was a world-class performance, and after the flash after the opening, there were many colorful performances after a moment of silence.

First, in the second minute, Parejo stumbled but managed to break through Bruno and Bailly in succession and crossed, but Rodrigo was tackled on the edge of the box after being caught by a yellow submarine double.

Villarreal lacked threat in attack, with their first shot not coming until the half-hour mark, when Soldado picked the ball over the head of a defender in front of him in the middle of the box and Trigueros' shot from the edge of the box was blocked by a defender.

This is also the first time that Valencia goalkeeper Alves appeared in the footage of today's game, except for the opening game, and I have to say that today's attack of the yellow submarine has been so bad that it broke through the sky.

On the other hand, Villarreal goalkeeper Areola appeared frequently in the camera, and the next time in the first half was when he played.

In the 36th minute, Negredo and Rodrigo flicked back-to-back headers, and Mina's low left-footed shot from the edge of the middle of the box hit the outside of the right-hand post, and this time Areola showed his scared expression.

Five minutes later, when Bailly was fouled for handball in front of the penalty area and Negredo's 25-yard shot hit the wall, Areola quickly took the bouncing ball into his arms, this time in a hurried manner.

Villarreal's most threatening attack in the half came in the 43rd minute, Castillejo won the ball in the middle of the field and passed directly to Bakambu on the wing, who lived up to expectations and brought the ball in the air into the box with a little forehead, and shot vigorously when the Valencia defenders had not yet stepped forward to defend, and the play was caught off guard.

But unexpectedly, Alves, who had nothing to do for more than 40 minutes, was still nervous, and flew to save the ball with one palm.

Villarreal was about to enter injury time in the first half and was lucky to escape again, this game played like a god in the front of the Parejo penalty area in the face of Bailly's defense when suddenly cold arrow, not only Bailly did not react to the time to block, even the yellow submarine goalkeeper Areola was a little caught off guard, but unfortunately the ball hit the bottom edge of the crossbar and bounced off the bottom line.

The first half was scoreless and the half-time drew 0-0.

In the second half, Villarreal's performance improved after Marcelino's half-time adjustments.

From the moment he came on, Bakambu's shot from the edge of the box on the left showed that the Yellow Submarine was superior to the first half, but it still did not threaten Alves' goal, which was blocked by the Valencia defender.

In the 62nd minute, Soldado cut straight into the box after getting away from the opposition defender's mark on the right, but he missed the best time to pass, Castillejo ran in front of the post, and the ball was confiscated by Alves.

Seeing that the team not only seemed to be unable to get points, but even the points of the draw could not be guaranteed, Marcelino, who could not bear it, finally waved his hand and replaced Dai Zhiwei, who was hiding for the second leg of the Europa League semi-final in midweek.

Villarreal, who gave it their all, had a lot of firepower, and after replacing Dai Zhiwei, the Valencia backline was in a stormy state from the start.

Villarreal advanced quickly up front, and Dai Zhiwei glanced at Valencia's backline after winning the ball, and Dai was delighted by the chaotic positioning and aimless defense.

"Bang!"

After taking two steps, Dai Zhiwei suddenly threw a cold arrow with his right foot, and the shot hit the leg of the opponent's defender and flew out of the bottom line.

"It's still a bit of a no-move." Dai Zhiwei moved the ankles of his feet, he hadn't been a substitute for a long time, and he had lost the feeling of being a super substitute in the past.

From a corner, Bailly's duel for the ball almost broke through Valencia's goal, but the opposing goalkeeper was in really good form and blocked the ball in front of the goal line.

Dai Zhiwei made a clever follow-up shot, seized the opportunity again and volleyed, and the football flew towards the goal at great speed.

It was only after seeing his shot that players on both sides turned away, and no one paid attention to the previous shot.

Dai Zhiwei watched the football hit the plane with some embarrassment, and he wanted a teammate to explain that it was an accident, but it seemed unreasonable.

The game went exactly as Marcelino had predicted, with Villarreal launching a couple of ferocious counter-attacks after the substitutions, and Valencia's backline was on the verge of being breached, only to come out of harm's way.

In the second half of the game, Valencia's backline was almost in the middle of the game.

Villarreal were awarded another corner and the regular 90 minutes were running out.

At this moment, Villarreal suddenly sent a tactical corner, Castillejo quickly crossed from the wing, and Valencia's Mustafi decisively gave up Bailly and rushed into the box, but he was still a step slow after all.

Dai Zhiwei used Bailly's cover to quickly grab the front point and hit the goal with a ferocious headbutt.

The soccer ball hits the ball hard and stirs!

But then the Valencia fans cheered with joy, because Dai Zhiwei's header did not fly into the goal, but hit the sidenetting, and it looked like the ball had scored, but the result was a gap of 108,000 miles.

And it was also the closest Villarreal had to a goal at full-time.

After this unsuccessful attack, the Yellow Submarine also tried to score a goal in the last minute, but the Valencia players received the ball and slowly passed it back to the back in an attempt to kill the last time.

One point was enough for Villarreal, and the second leg of the Europa League semi-final against Liverpool in midweek was the main event, so there was no need to fight for this league game, so the Yellow Submarine soldiers also gave up attacking in the last two minutes.

In the end, the two sides exchanged blanks and drawn.

With the 1 point gained in this game, Villarreal qualified for next season's Champions League 2 rounds ahead of schedule!

However, the glory of this season is not destined to be over yet!