Córdoba hold their heads high and get a draw against Villarreal

Villarreal CF and Córdoba CF were held to a scoreless draw on matchday 32 of the Liga BBVA. The Andalusians were resilient against the home side, which performed well but lacked precision in front of Juan Carlos’s goal.

The first half was a hard fought affair in El Madrigal. Villarreal threatened early on through a fierce Joel Campbell effort that smashed off the post. Florín Andone answered back on the nine-minute mark with a fantastic opportunity right in front of goal that Sergio Asenjo somehow managed to keep out. It was a wide open match and both sides had chances to go in front and, despite the evenness of the encounter, Córdoba were slightly on top. The Yellows hit the woodwork again in the 22', as Florin continued to cause Villarreal problems at the back.

The home side changed things up after the break and began to push further into the away team’s territory. Marcelino García’s men started to play a far more direct style of football and came very close to scoring a few times during the second half. Denís Chéryshev, Campbell and Luciano Vietto came the closest to finding the back of the net. Juan Antonio Romero’s charges were forced to defend deep and looked to cause damage on the break, a facet of play in which Florin once again took centre stage during the initial stages of the second half, albeit without ever hitting the mark. The match finished all square, a result that leaves Villarreal in sixth and gives Córdoba, who now need eight points to climb out of the relegation zone, hope of staying up.