Monday, 26 August. Villarreal 4 – Celta de Vigo 3. This game kicked off an early midweek Matchday 3 for La Liga, with the visitors at the top of an admittedly early table. Villarreal were also undefeated, though they had dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Atlético Madrid in Matchday 1, all four goals coming in the first half.

Celta opened the scoring early, Ilaix Moriba hitting a long ball over the top to Alfonso González, whose blocked shot was put in by Borja Iglesias. Midway through the first half, Sergi Cardona equalized from an Álex Baena corner headed on to the far post by Gerard Moreno; but just after the half-hour mark, Celta retook the lead with a stunning (if chaotically defended) free kick by Óscar Mingueza.

At halftime, Marcelino brought on Ayoze Perez to lead the line for Villarreal, and at the hour mark he made a triple substitution that included brand new signing Thierno Barry. His first touch was a header off a Cardona cross to draw Villarreal level. Less than 5’ later, another of those subs, Nicolas Pépé, got round Jonathan Bamba on the right and put a ball into the box that ended in a Jailson own goal, putting Villarreal in front for the first time in the game.

Now Celta Vigo made a series of attacking substitutions, but with 10’ remaining in regulation, it was the starters who made the difference. In the second phase of a corner kick, Mingueza swung a right cross in for center-back Carl Starfelt to head home an equalizer. As the end of regulation approached, Villarreal had a Santi Comesaña goal ruled offside while Celta substitute Anastasios Douvikas hit the post.

In the final minute of stoppage time, Hugo Álvarez tried to stop a breaking Barry by grabbing him outside the box. Barry made sure to drag himself into the box before going down, however, and while the original call was for a free kick just outside the top right corner of the box, VAR opted for a continuation penalty. Club captain Dani Parejo had his penalty saved by Iván Villar, but backheeled the rebound in to win the game for Villarreal with effectively its last kick. Villarreal would end the year in fifth place, while Celta would end it mid-table, in tenth.

Tactical Analysis: La Liga Analysis (Thierno Barry scouting report), Total Football Analysis (Oscar Mingueza scouting report), La Liga Expert (Villarreal tactical overview).