Sporting Gijon 1-0 Villarreal: Bilic Strike Sinks Yellow Submarine

A second-half rebound from Male Bilic that followed up a penalty proved the difference as Sporting de Gijon downed Villarreal by the slightest of margins.

Sporting Gijon started out the better, and had the first chance of the match, on 16 minutes, when Gregory's header after a corner from the left forced Diego Lopez to a two-time save.

The best chance of the first half belonged to the hosts 22 minutes into the game, when Lopez's poor clearance fell at the feet of David Barral just outside the Villarreal box, the Sporting striker moved toward the goal but he aimed his shot against the post.

Villarreal had looked much inferior to Sporting Gijon in the first period, and they would require an improved performance in the second half to be able to get the win, but they struggled to make their mark as the pace of the match was very slow in the first minutes.

The first chance of the second half only came in the 72nd minute, when Miguel de las Cuevas received the ball inside the Villarreal area, moved past Godin with a soft head touch before being brought down by Gonzalo, who was sent off. Diego Lopez's parried away Rivera's shot from the spot, but Bilic sent it home in the rebound.

Villarreal almost equalised just minutes later through Llorente, who sprinted towards the Sporting Gijon goal facing the opposition of two defenders but he sent a low shot straight at Juan Pablo.

Sporting Gijon could have made it 2-0 in the 83rd minute but Diego Castro's was just millimetres away from reaching a low cross from the right.

The hosts were awarded a second penalty in the 87th minute after an Eguren foul on Bilic inside the box, which the Croatian striker could not take advantage of as Lopez saved his effort.