Cédric Bakambu scored two times with six minutes left to go and sealed Villarreal's first victory of the new campaign, coming back to defeat Espanyol by a score of 3-1 in front of the home supporters.
Espanyol open the scoring early
Felipe Caicedo got the opening goal in just the fifth minute of the match after Gerardo Moreno supplied an excellent ball that cut the Villarreal defense. The goal scorer took the ball wide as the goal keeper came off his line and slotted the ball into the empty net. Four minutes later, the hosts got their first half-chance of the evening as Leo Baptistao's header flashes over the top of the cross bar.
The head referee handed a yellow card to Espanyol goal keeper, Pau López, after he had taken awhile to restart the game. Léo Baptistão likes to take shots from outside of the box, however, his first one this match -- in the 26th minute -- which completely missed the target.
With about five minutes to go until halftime, Villarreal had their best opportunity of the half. The vistors, though, looked the better of the two sides in the opening 45 minutes and went into the interval with a well-deserved lead.
HT: Villarreal 0-1 Espanyol
At the start of the second half, you could sense that The Yellow Submarines were really starting to play their style of attacking football and the supporters were fully behind their men. In fact, both sides exchanged a couple of early chances which set the tone for the rest of the 45 minutes.
A couple of minutes on the other side of the hour mark, Gerard Moreno received a fantastic cross from the left side of the pitch, his first touch was fantastic bringing it to his strong right foot, but young Alphonse Areola stopped the shot very well.
Seven minutes, Roberto Soldado would find the back of the net to open up his account at his new club with a sensational volley after Samuel Garcia flicked up the ball to the former Tottenham Hotspur striker.
Bakambu scores two goals to gain three points
24-year-old Cédric Bakambu used his speed, as the Espanyol started to tire, to gain the three points for his club -- the first of the season. His first goal, in the 87th minute, broke the deadlock after a pass from Soldado. Bakambu still had a bit of work to do, the touch he took though to get around the goal keeper was sensational as he finished off the move with a well-placed shot.
Roberto Soldado had a superb second half and provided a second assist to Bakambu to secure an important victory for the Yellow Submarines. Soldado played an inch perfect square ball to Bakumbu who redirected the ball into the back of the net for his second goal deep into stoppage time, ensuring the victory for the Yellow Submarines.
This result was huge for Villarreal as they got their campaign off on the wrong foot by drawing against lowly Real Betis and this win should kick the confidence back up and going. For Espanyol, the loss will sting a little after scoring very on in the match. Their defense just let them down a bit in the last few minutes as they dropped all three points.