Villarreal overturn Napoli to end their Champions League slump

Villarreal overcame their difficulties to beat Napoli in the Champions League, completing a comeback that brought their first victory in ten matches in the competition. They took time to find their rhythm in a tournament where a scoring chance can emerge even when play appears quiet. Napoli struck first, but the team coached by Iñigo Pérez quickly turned the match around and then held on to its lead until the final whistle.

In the opening minutes, Napoli threatened more through its presence than its attacking bite. A short corner routine caught Villarreal’s defence off guard: Gilmour delivered the ball into the area and Rrahmani scored after Luiz Júnior’s initial save, with the ball then striking the crossbar. Villarreal responded with chances of its own, including a Mikautadze shot that Badiashile deflected behind for a corner.

Napoli then regrouped, with De Bruyne influential between the lines and Di Lorenzo and Politano stretching the play out wide. But a poor back-pass from Politano allowed Mikautadze to level with a driven shot across goal, as Milinkovic-Savic was caught well away from his goal. Four minutes later, Mouriño put Villarreal ahead with a long-range right-footed strike, capitalising on Napoli’s disorganisation.

Napoli tried to push Villarreal back, but in doing so left space for counter-attacks. Mikautadze, Mouriño and Oluwaseyi completed the comeback after Rrahmani’s opener, giving Villarreal a significant win in a competition where results had been hard to come by recently.