La Liga: Pépé finishes off dream start for Villarreal in dominant victory

Three goals in the opening twenty-three minutes for hosts Villarreal concluded with a Nicolas Pépé goal as The Yellow Submarine marched to a 3-1 La Liga victory over Real Sociedad.

The Ivorian made it back-to-back matches with a goal after previously sparing the blushes of his club with a spectacular late equalizer in their 1-1 draw at Alaves last Friday. Despite being snubbed once again by Ivory Coast national team coach Emerse Faé for the upcoming FIFA window, the veteran forward continues to perform well in Spain’s top flight with 5 goals and 5 assists in all competitions this season.

The hosts were in top form at the Estadio de la Ceramica and it took less than seven minutes before Gerard Moreno opened the scoring. Georgian forward Georges Mikautadze doubled the lead before fifteen minutes were gone.

And in the 23rd minute, the Georgian set up Pépé in the penalty area. Holding off a defender, the former Arsenal player was able to turn and fire a deflected effort that went beyond the reach of Sociedad keeper Alex Remiro. Remiro did have an oustanding match to keep the score respectable, denying Pépé a second goal later on.

 

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The visitors from the Basque Country never got back into the match. Luka Sučić did pull one goal back early in the second half but it was not enough to spark a comeback.

Villarreal are now one point clear of Atletico Madrid in third place but with one more match played. UEFA Champions League qualification is a near certainty at this point with fourteen points separating them from Real Betis. They will next travel to face Girona on April 6.