La Liga: Pépé instrumental in Villarreal’s beatdown of Levante

Villarreal CF are officially qualified for the UEFA Champions League next season after Saturday’s 5-1 La Liga thrashing of Levante. Ivory Coast national team playmaker Nicolas Pépé provided a goal and two assists in a Man of the Match performance.

Georges Mikautadze opened the scoring for The Yellow Submarine close to halftime to give the hosts the lead before the third place team fully ignited in the second half.

Pépé helps Villarreal run away with lopsided La Liga victory

Alberto Moleiro restroed the lead shortly after the hour mark following Carlos Espi’s equalizer for Levante early in the second half and then the onslaught began. Pépé got behind the defense on the right wing and he was left with a simple low cross to find Mikautadze for a routine finish.

Pépé then showed some trickery on the left wing to create space and use his right foot to switch the ball to the opposite wing. Canadian international Tajon Buchanan then did the rest, firing in a long range effort to make it 4-1.

With the visitors well defeated at this point, the Ivorian decided to get on the scoresheet himself in the 90th minute for his 8th league goal of the campaign.

 

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Pépé now has goals in his last three matches for the club, bringing his totals to 8 goals and 7 assists in all competitions this season. The 30-year-old is as unpredictable as ever but it has been a positive attribute for the Villarreal attack. The club are eight points clear of fourth place Atlético Madrid and six points back of second place Real Madrid.

Next up is a trip to the Balearic Islands next Sunday where they will face Mallorca.