Sevilla took the lead in the ninth minute after the first yellow card of the game was given to Mateo Musacchio for a foul on Didier Zokora on the edge of the Yellow Submarine’s penalty area. Ivan Rakitic duly stepped up and delightfully curled the ball over the Villareal wall and past the hapless Diego Lopez, who could only watch as the ball flew into his net.
The hosts then deservedly doubled their lead in the 14th minute thanks to a stunning goal from Alvaro Negredo. Diego Perotti managed to lose his marker and the Argentine then played a wonderful ball over the top of the Villarreal defense through to Negredo who managed to out-muscle Jose Catala and produce a deft finish to lob over the despairing Diego Lopez. It was no more than the home side deserved.
Negredo was causing El Submarino all sorts of problems and had a good shout for a penalty on the half-hour mark. The Spanish striker managed to run in behind Musacchio and burst into the area, only to go down under contact from the Argentine defender. It looked relatively innocuous, but a decent shout nonetheless.
Moments later Nilmar managed to fire in his first shot of the evening and curl an effort towards the far post, but Javi Varas managed to hurl himself across to tip the effort around the post to safety.
The first half came to an end with Sevilla looking comfortable and good value for its two goal advantage.
The second half commenced with the visitors firing out of the traps. They looked a changed side from the lackluster team that was torn apart in the first half. Giuseppe Rossi also came on for Nilmar in the 54th minute as Juan Carlos Garrido tried to mix things up and provide more of an attacking threat.
The game was then seemingly brought back to life minutes later as Villarreal pulled a goal back in the 57th minute. Catala slipped through a wonderful ball on the edge of the box to Marchena who applied a classy drilled finish into the bottom corner.
This led to Gregorio Manzano bringing on Romaric for Rodri, seemingly to shore the midfield up and protect the Andalucians’ slender lead. The Ivory Coast international then went one further just three minutes after coming on as he restored Sevilla’s two goal advantage with a clever finish through the legs of Diego Lopez after good work from Negredo.
The advantage was again cut down to a solitary goal in the 73rd minute as Giuseppe Rossi curled in a beauty on the edge of the penalty area after turning and picking his spot.
Villarreal subsequently dashed any hopes they had of salvaging the game as Marchena was sent off in the 85th minute after a needless foul on Diego Perotti.
This was how the game finished with a vital three points taken by Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as they move back up to sixth, level on 49 points with Atletico Madrid but ahead of the capital club thanks to a superior head-to-head record. Villarreal continue to occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot but they are now only six points ahead of Athletic Bilbao in fifth.
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Sevilla 3-2 Villarreal