The state of euphoria has been declared in Deportivo, which has returned to the First Division in style, exuberant in the transfer market and also on the pitch because after four games it has 8 points out of a possible 12 and has not known defeat. Much of the party was paid for by Aubameyang, who in the comeback victory at Villarreal (2-3) scored for the fourth consecutive day and also contributed two passes that were worth the other two goals for his team. Deportivo beat a Champions League rival. Villarreal returns next Tuesday to the competition from which it was shorn at the first opportunity last year. Dortmund awaits him in Germany and the feelings are not the best because his people said goodbye to him amidst whistles and reproaches. If Deportivo does not know defeat, Villarreal is the other side of the coin: it has not yet won.
The match had a rhythm and that made it entertaining, perhaps not so much for the Deportivo coach, who was always committed to ensuring that the team avoided transitions from the rival, especially harmful if there was a rival like Villarreal in front of them, especially focused on becoming vertical as soon as they recovered the ball. This is how the locals punished Dépor, damaged after a loss of the ball by Luismi Cruz when his teammates were trying to deploy in attack. Villarreal didn't even think about it, they stepped on the accelerator and took the ball as soon as possible to Pépé, who found himself with a late exit from goalkeeper Leo Román. The Deportivo goalkeeper, who had the help of a teammate, misjudged the goal and had to stay between the sticks. He didn't do it, he opened the door and the ball went into the kitchen to put the yellow team ahead.
It was there when Deportivo showed pride and above all football. They fought back from the disadvantage and went for the tie to take the game to an unimaginable terrain in a duel between a Champions team and a newly promoted team. But this Dépor full of gamers and footballers accustomed to the big stages has no complexes. Two of them, Giménez, who arrived on loan from Atlético after thirteen seasons in the fight for titles, and Aubameyang, whose brilliant resume goes without saying, created the tie. He filtered the center back from behind and set up the forward for the arrival of Luismi Cruz, who found revenge with a cross shot that he adjusted to the opposite post to the one covered by the local goalkeeper. Deportivo had been at a disadvantage for just over 20 minutes, between the 18th and the 42nd. And in that time they did not stop looking for the goal, with Aubameyang, of course. Also with the tireless Bil Nsongo or with the arrivals of Quagliata and Navarro from the sides. The A Coruña team tied just before half-time and no one could say that it was unfair.
However, Villarreal was always on the lookout because it always found a way to dangerously reach the edge of its opponent's area. There Moleiro unsheathed when his team was still ahead so that Leo Román also had his revenge and showed his feline character between the sticks. Shortly afterward came the tie and the break, but after the break the game changed.
Villarreal came back from the booth bossy and hardworking in the second half to prevent Deportivo from putting together passes and leaving their field. The blue and white team had to entrench themselves. They knew how to suffer to get together and wall themselves, to repeat defensive efforts because there was no way to rest with the ball at their feet. Villarreal scored, but did not hit their clearest options, with a shot by Gueye Alto after Saliba exploited Deportivo's weakness on the right flank. And Gil Manzano disallowed a goal from the Senegalese midfielder after a foul in which several yellow players invaded the space of the sports barrier.
Deportivo had lost the thread and became even more entangled when another debutant, Adama Traoré, scored an own goal to show his problems acting as a right back. The muscular Catalan player arrived late for coverage and resolved with a header that went tamely into the net. A disaster that he later avenged with several trademark attacks that stripped Villarreal's defense... and also showed through his problems in recovering his position that he is short on training. The fact is that Adama, like all of Deportivo, unexpectedly claimed victory at the end because the last quarter of an hour turned everything around and exposed Luiz Junior, the criticized Villarreal goalkeeper, who could have done much more with the two goals that turned the game around so that the three points went to A Coruña.
