Aston Villa finished off their pre-season campaign with a victory against Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Sunday night.
2025 Club Friendlies
0-2
Match Report
Ollie Watkins continued his fine form heading into the Premier League campaign, netting his fifth goal of pre-season when he fired home after 23 minutes.
A second goal arrived shortly after the break when Emi Buendía lashed a shot into the bottom corner.
Emi Martínez was on hand to make a number of fine saves at the other end as Villa shut out their opponents.
The match was the last of eight warm-up games for Unai Emery’s squad, who can now look forward to hosting Newcastle United at Villa Park on Saturday as the domestic season begins.
Just over 24 hours on from playing Olympique de Marseille in France, Emery took his squad to Villarreal, a place where he spent two years, winning the Europa League in 2021.
Martínez, Ian Maatsen, Watkins, Youri Tielemans and Pau Torres, back in his hometown, were among the starters on Spain’s east coast.
The hosts, who have Champions League football to look forward to this term, started brightly, with Martínez holding Tajon Buchanan’s shot before doing well to tip Santi Comesaña Veiga’s drive over the crossbar.
A golden opportunity passed Gerard Moreno by after 17 minutes when the Villarreal captain shot wide with the goal at his mercy at the end of a swift counter-attack.
Villa made their opponents pay soon after when Watkins pounced on the rebound from Buendía’s drive, taking a touch before drilling beyond Júnior.
Gerard’s torrid night in front of goal continued on the half-hour mark as he was denied by Martínez from point-blank range and then nodded the loose ball the wrong side of the post.
As the first half drew to a close, Triston Rowe made a crucial tackle on Pau Cabanes before Tielemans and Leon Bailey called Júnior into saves.
The second half was only four minutes old when the visitors extended their advantage, Buendía picking the ball up on the edge of the box after an interception by Boubacar Kamara and sending a powerful shot flying past sub ‘keeper Diego Counde.
Having made his maiden Villa appearance a day earlier, Evann Guessand was the first substitute to be utilised by Emery, with the new man replacing the lively Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba.
Taking up a role on the left, the Ivorian almost immediately teed up Buendía for his side’s third of the night but saw his drilled cross turned behind by Valou.
Villarreal made changes throughout the night and two substitutes, Sergi Cardona and Ilias Akhomach, almost combined to pull one back when the latter headed the former’s dinked cross wide of the target.
But the away side maintained their control of the contest as the time ticked down, with the final whistle ensuring pre-season ended on a positive note.
Line-ups
Villarreal XI: G. Moreno, Pedraza, Santi Comesaña, Pape Gueye, Adrià Altimira, Yeremy, Buchanan, Luiz Júnior, Pau Navarro, Pau Cabanes, Jean Ives Valou
Subs: Parejo, Denis Suarez, Partey, Pepe, Foyth, Diego Conde, Sergi Cardona, Alberto Moleiro, Ilias Akhomach, Etta Eyong, Santiago Mouriño
Aston Villa XI: E. Martinez, Tielemans, Ollie Watkins, Buendia, Bailey, P. Torres, Kamara, Ngoyo, Maatsen, Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, Triston Rowe
Subs: Marco Bizot, Digne, Álex Moreno, McGinn, Mings, Matty Cash, Malen, Evann Guessand, Amadou Onana, Jacob Ramsey, Samuel Iling-Junior, Lewis Dobbin, Lamare Bogarde, Travis Patterson, Sam Proctor, Yeimar Mosquera, George Hemmings