Villarreal’s glass jaw suffers one too many sucker punches as Copenhagen end European hopes

Villarreal 2-3 Copenhagen

Marcelino Garcia Toral commented before his side took on Copenhagen that they were ‘towing the trailer’ of their ‘botch job’ against Pafos behind them as they went into their final three fixtures. Any hope of keeping their Champions League play-off chances alive undoubtedly rested on three wins against the Danish giants, Ajax and Bayer Leverkusen.

A signal of their intentions was the inclusion of four of their expensive investments, Nicolas Pepe, Alberto Moleiro, Georges Mikautadze and Tajon Buchanan, but with such firepower on the pitch, they came out without the necessary defensive steel. Just two minutes in, Copenhagen were allowed to stroke the ball to their left wing, and strolling in came Mohamed Elyounoussi to open the scoring, given the keys to the six-yard box by Rafa Marin and Renato Veiga.

Shortly after, Tajon Buchanan fizzed an effort narrowly wide from distance by way of rebellion, but Copenhagen’s threat going forward showed little sign of diminishing. Alfonso Pedraza was called into emergency action twice to cover loose attackers in the box, while Jordan Larsson’s link-up with Yoram Zague was thwarted by a last-ditch Rafa Marin clearance in the same area the goal came from.

This is not to say that Villarreal were without threat, and Nicolas Pepe could barely have made his cutback more appetising for Santi Comesana, after beating his defender on the left side of the box – with the goal gaping, Comesana couldn’t adjust his feet, miscontrolling out for a goal-kick. Ten minutes before the break, a cross from Buchanan was met with purpose by Pepe, but bounced just enough for a picture-perfect save from Dominik Kotarski, the closest their mounting pressure came to striking gold.

Villarreal add short-circuit at the death

Hoping to shock his side into life, Marcelino sent on Ayoze Perez, Tani Oluwaseyi and Ilias Akhomach on for Pepe, Mikautadze and Buchanan – and it worked. Three minutes deep in the second period, Akhomach’s cross narrowly evaded Oluwaseyi’s outstretched leg, but this time Comesana was correctly set to bundle the ball in.

That threat from Copenhagen was at no point dormant though, and within two minutes, Villarreal were behind again. Zague’s ball from the right found a free Elias Achouri, who finished low beyond Luiz Junior, but the fortune was that Viktor Dadason did not find the target with another free header between Marin and Veiga.

Este equipo elige 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥. pic.twitter.com/6Zzjvoyehc

— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) December 10, 2025

Desperately keeping their heads above water, Alberto Moleiro slipped the ball to Oluwaseyi behind the midfield, and holding off an opponent, the Canadian target man stabbed the ball with the outside of his foot into the bottom corner from just inside, letting the sound back into the stadium – and a considerable degree of hope with it.

Egged on by an increasingly angsty Ceramica stadium, Villarreal found themselves unable to find the last pass on several occasions though. Manor Solomon’s dragged ball across the penalty spot miraculously evaded three Villarreal forwards with the clock ticking into the final 15 minutes. That was the definitive point at which Copenhagen sacrificed their threat to dig the trenches on the egde of their box, Pape Gueye, Ayoze and Comesana circling them for any sign of weakness.

SUCKER PUNCH COPENHAGEN!

With two minutes to go, Veiga deflects a shot into the path of Cornelius, who calmly beats Junior!

90' Villarreal 2-3 Copenhagen pic.twitter.com/egk6h4fQVh

— Football España (@footballespana_) December 10, 2025

With two minutes to go, substitute Sergi Cardona delivered a delightful cross. Straining with all his fibres, Copenhagen’s Shunsuke Suzuki glanced the ball onto Ayoze’s head, rendering the contact useless. With a screech, the crowd betrayed their fears that was the chance. For Copenhagen, one final sucker punch remained, and it was Andreas Cornelius who delivered it in the 90th minute. A deflected effort angled into his path, where he beat Junior with a neat finish, and a crunching Danish roar from the away support above.

When the goal went in, La Ceramica felt as if it had been cruelly treated, but further reflection provides little solace for Marcelino. On each occasion that Copenhagen showed attacking intent, a brittle Villarreal backline parted for them. Unable to definitively force the game in their favour, with its vertical nature, Villarreal took an unsustainable number of hits, and with just one point from six games, an unsurvivable number of losses.

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