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Week  22 Villareal 1

v

 1 Cadiz
Date 4th February 2006 Calleja  62mins Medina 1min
Quique Medina
Alvarez Oli
Peña
 

Cadiz gained a well-earned point at El Madrigal, but it was Villarreal who will be most pleased with the point after what looked like a perfectly good goal from Medina was ruled out in the closing moments of the match.

Berizzo and De La Cuesta continued their partnership at the heart of the defence, as did Benjamin and Bezares in the centre of midfield. Ivan Ania came in to the starting eleven but was replaced after ten minutes by Oli after a nasty clash left him with what appears to be a broken collarbone. By that time the visitors were already a goal to the good. Despite speculation around the ground, Roman Riquelme wasn’t fit to play for the home team, but even if he had have been he wouldn’t have been able to stop the Cadiz goal scored after barely 20 seconds. Estoyanoff won the ball in midfield, and after entering the area he passed for Medina who made no mistake to make it four goals in four games for the Uruguayan.

Cadiz tried to build on their early goal, and for long periods of the first half they played like the home team, and outclassed a team who are through to the last 16 of the Champions League. The once again impressive Mirosavljevic came within inches of doubling the lead, but his rocket thundered against the bar. As the half wore on, Villarreal improved, but on the very few occasions they found a way through the tight visiting defence they found Armando once again on top form. In the 42nd minute Arruabarrena had a good chance to equalize, but fortunately the ball fell to his wrong foot and he shot tamely. Last seasons “pichichi”, Diego Forlan, had two further chances to level the match before half time, but he shot wide on one occasion and saw Armando save the other.

Half time came at a good time for Cadiz, they regrouped at the break and looked to hit Villarreal on the break in the early stages of the second half, with Mirosavljevic shooting wide and then Benjamin shooting over. Villareal did manage to finally breakthrough the stubborn rearguard in the 66th minute. Forlans deep cross was met by sub Calleja, who made no mistake. Cadiz rallied well though and surprisingly started to attack the home team, rather than sit back and try to hold on to the draw. With the match now more open, Villarreal had 2 chances to sneak into the lead, firstly when Armando made a superb save from Guayre, then when Calleja’s header was cleared off the line by Berizzo. Then Peña picked up his second yellow card, and the pendulum swung back in favour of Cadiz. First Oli’s header was well saved and then Estoyanoff couldn’t convert the rebound. Then came the moment of real controversy. In the 91st minute Estoyanoff’s cross was turned in by Medina, but Rafa Guerrero, the most famous linesman in Spain, called across the referee to wrongly advise that the ball struck Medina’s arm, so the match ended 1-1. A point is still a great result away from home, and perhaps after Medina’s first goal in Malaga, when he definitely did appear to “punch” the ball home, the luck has unfortunately levelled itself out.