Bakambu to complete an excellent first leg

Good and bad at El Madrigal, where Villarreal match their best historic first leg with 39 points and Sporting receive another defeat by 2-0. Here are the key points of the game:

Order and diversity

Despite Marcelino Garcia Toral's men starting with a high intensity, the match was open until the end of the first half. Even though Sporting didn’t shoot on goal, they hardly gave away any possessions and they improved as the match went by.

Bakambu, man of the match

Cedric Bakambu is on eight goals in the Liga BBVA this season. The Frenchman led his team and scored twice on Ivan Cuellar’s goal to decide the game. First, he buried the ball into the back of the net on an open goal and, the second, came from an outstanding strike from outside the box.

50´ 2-0 | GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL ¡GRANDE @Bakambu17! pic.twitter.com/C82Gk55qes

— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) January 10, 2016

Soldado, assisting

The great away defensive strength reduced Roberto Soldado’s attacking presence, so in this occasion we worked further away from the box, taking the role of the assistant. He was the man in charge of passing Bakambu the ball in both the goals he scored.

Bernardo mishap

The Sporting centre-back had to leave the pitch in the 39th minute on a stretcher after a clash with Roberto Soldado in the box. El Madrigal applauded the player as he left and he will have to wait for a diagnosis to know the severity of the injury.