Villarreal shake off early scare, rout Levante 3-1 as Moleiro shines with a goal and an assist

Villarreal needed just a minute to swing from euphoria to alarm. Ayoze Perez had put his side up 1-0 in the 40th minute, but before Estadio de la Ceramica finished celebrating, Ivan Romero leveled things for Levante a minute later. That back and forth summed up the first half well: heavy pressure from the home side, but a match that refused to settle. In the end, it was 3-1 for Villarreal in LaLiga action, with two more goals in the second half tipping the scales for good.

The opener came from a combination play down the right flank: Alberto Moleiro slipped in a through ball and Ayoze Perez finished with his right foot from the center of the box. Levante answered right away: Jeremy Toljan whipped in a cross and Romero met it with a right-footed strike into the top corner, making it 1-1 at the break.

Moleiro and Mikautadze put it away

In the second half, Villarreal struck early again. In the 53rd minute, Ilias Akhomach threaded a through ball to Moleiro, who finished with his left foot to make it 2-1. The home side kept creating chances, Gerard Moreno and Sergi Cardona both had looks that didn't find the net, until Georges Mikautadze, on from the bench, sealed things in the 85th minute with a low shot just inside the left post, once again set up by Moleiro. Mikautadze had another chance saved in stoppage time, by which point the result was already decided.

Villarreal's dominance showed clearly in the numbers. With 62.2 percent possession, 21 shots to Levante's 6, and 7 shots on target against just 1 for the visitors, the home side was clearly superior in terms of overall output.

The advanced numbers also point to a clear edge: our estimate of expected goals generated in the match has Villarreal at 3.81 xG against just 1.07 for Levante, a gap that lines up with what happened on the field, with the home side piling up chances from the opening whistle.

Before kickoff, our preview gave Villarreal a 60 percent chance of winning, 22 percent for a draw, and 18 percent for a Levante win, with expected goals of 2.18 for the home side and 1.16 for the visitors. The final score, 3-1, ended up matching that forecast: Villarreal was the favorite and backed it up on the pitch, even if the road there included the jolt of a brief equalizer before halftime.

What it means in the standings

In the LaLiga table, Villarreal came into the match with 8 points from 7 games played (2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses), while Levante had 5 points from 6 matches (1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses), a gap of 3 points between the two sides before this game. The win adds another three points to Villarreal's tally, while Levante is still looking to right the ship after the setback at Estadio de la Ceramica.

With Moleiro as the standout of the afternoon, a goal and an assist, on top of setting up Mikautadze's goal, and Ayoze Perez opening the scoring, Villarreal found the killer instinct in the second half that had been missing in an even first 45 minutes. Levante, for its part, leaves Estadio de la Ceramica with the sense of having been competitive early on, but unable to keep pace with an opponent that kept multiplying its chances in the box.