Are Villarreal the Bayer Leverkusen of La Liga? Three Stoppage Time Winners Already

Away to Sevilla FC, home to RC Celta Vigo and away to Mallorca. Villarreal have won all these games with late goals in the 94th minute or later. They are also the bookie’s favourites to get fourth spot this season.

90+5, 90+10 and 90+4: Villarreal Loving Scoring Late Goals

Just Like Bayer Leverkusen

Europe watched on in awe last season when Spanish football legend Xabi Alonso led his Bayer Leverkusen to an unlikely first-ever Bundesliga title. In doing so, they produced some staggering stoppage time performances, scoring fifteen goals after the ninety-minute mark. There’s now a team in Spain who are starting to show similar signs at the outset of the new campaign.

They are nicknamed “The Yellow Submarine” but it’s their opponents who are being sunk recently. Villarreal CF have three wins from their opening five matches and have left it until the final few breaths to get each of the jobs done. They might struggle to match the current German champions’ “invincible” feat, but notable similarities have already been spotted between the two sides.

Marcelino’s Miracle Men

It all started on matchday two when new signing Ayoze Pérez volleyed home from a loose ball to score the winner away to Sevilla. The former Real Betis player was signed in the summer to replace twenty-three-goal striker Alexander Sorloth, who departed to Atlético Madrid.

Just three days later, a turbulent game at home to Celta Vigo finished with a penalty awarded to Villarreal in the 100th minute of the game. Up stepped Dani Parejo who saw his effort saved before turning in the rebound. Astonishingly, Florian Wirtz did exactly that to help Leverkusen win their opening game of the new season in the 101st minute.

The team from La Cerámica pulled their latest rabbit out of the hat with a 2-1 victory away at Mallorca. Ayoze Pérez, once again, was the man to pull his team past their ten-man opposition. The other two fixtures not mentioned were respectable draws against Atlético Madrid at home, and away to local rivals Valencia CF. Manager Marcelino García can be pleased with his team’s performances.

A Long Road Ahead for a New Squad

At this stage, the collection of late goals is nothing more than an observation, a coincidence perhaps. However, the Yellow Submarine are being suggested by many to finish fourth behind the usual big three come the end of the season. A summer of upheaval saw €74 million in sales come in, allowing them to go shopping. Those behind the scenes managed to bring in a total of ten players in a clever blend of youth, experience and forgotten talent.

They went completely under the radar signing 23-year-old center-back Logan Costa from Toulouse who has already notched a goal in La Liga. European experience in the form of Juan Bernat and the aforementioned Pérez came in from PSG and Real Betis respectively. Arsenal fans will be interested to know that this is now the home of Nicolas Pépé, who signed for free from Trabzonspor.

Villarreal will be wishing these new faces help maintain this unbeaten run as they take on FC Barcelona next. In what will surely be their toughest test to date, they will have to hope a little bit of Leverkusen magic is still in the air on Sunday evening.

Oliver Cores

Sports Writer specialising in Spanish Football. Oliver has followed Spanish football since a child supporting his family's teams, Atlético Madrid and Real Oviedo. He was based in Spain where he attended frequent La Liga and second division matches from which his love for writing came. Oliver has a background in tennis and has also previously written about the sport.