A late Manor Solomon goal secured a 2-1 victory for Villarreal at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán and moved Marcelino’s men up to third in the early LaLiga table.
The visitors threatened first when Canadian international Tani Oluwaseyi powered through the home defence but was denied one-on-one by Odysseas Vlachodimos.
However, that proved to be merely a warning shot that Los Rojiblancos failed to heed, and it was far too easy for Villarreal as a long ball over the top sent Sergi Cardona cantering away down the left, allowing him to cut back for Oluwaseyi to slide home on 17 minutes.
That advantage was almost doubled in similar circumstances when Santiago Mourino made progress down the right, and this time picked out Alberto Moleiro, whose side-footed effort drifted just over the bar.
Matias Almeyda’s men were struggling to respond, but captain Nemanja Gudelj should’ve tested the goalkeeper with a header from Adnan Januzaj’s free-kick delivery.
Almost immediately after the break, Vlachodimos had to react quickly to prevent a comical own goal from Andres Castrin, but just five minutes later, Villarreal couldn’t clear their lines and were made to pay when the ball dropped to Djibril Sow, who smashed home a stunning left-footed strike to level proceedings.
Akor Adams had the home faithful out of their seats, only for Renato Veiga’s heroic block to divert his effort wide of the post.
While not quite end-to-end, both sides had positive spells as the second half wore on. Sevilla were cut open again as Villarreal sub Nicolas Pepe was put through on goal, but Vlachodimos again stood tall and clawed away the Ivorian’s attempted lob.
Once again, this proved to be foreboding for Sevilla as two more Villarreal subs combined for a late winner. Georges Mikautadze’s skilful, slaloming run allowed him the time and space to pick out Solomon at the back post, who finished coolly first-time.
The win was ultimately sealed by a flying save in stoppage time from Arnau Tenas to deny Batista Mendy, marking a fourth straight H2H victory for El Submarino Amarillo.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Manor Solomon (Villarreal)