Expelled for honoring the late Llaneza

Football wanted to pay tribute to

with an emotional ending.

The former vice president of Villarreal, who died this past Thursday from leukaemia, was the absent protagonist of the triumph of the Castellón team against Almería.

For him it was the minute of silence with which the game started and also the dedication of all the yellow footballers, pointing to the sky, at the conclusion of a duel that was decided with a goal from

in the last breath.

Llaneza was also the indirect protagonist of an action that should lead to rethinking some aspects of the regulation or, at least, its application by the referees.

Álex Baena's dedication to Villarreal's vice president, after scoring the equalizer, cost him his expulsion.

In celebration of him, the footballer raised his shirt over his head to display a message:

.

He did not, however, fall into a couple of details.

That this gesture, with the regulations in hand, is punished with a yellow card and that just five minutes before he had seen the first one.

did not attend to tributes or sentimentality and, with the regulations in hand, sent the midfielder to the locker room.

The expulsion left Villarreal in inferiority with more than half an hour to go after having reached a draw after a first half in which they did not know how to take advantage of their arrivals, quite the opposite of Almería.

The team prepared by

shot for efficiency to go into the break with the score in their favor after a goal by Melero, which he defined as a true striker with a shot close to the post after receiving long from

half an hour into the game.

Until then it had been the team from Castellón who had done the most to open the scoring, especially taking advantage of the depth of

, substitute for the injured

.

A good forehand from the Colombian was saved by

, who had already prevented the goal in an early header by

.

Emery

sought to give more depth to the right flank as well, giving entry to the limping

and it didn't take long for the yellow goal to arrive, in a good header from Baena after a corner kick, whose celebration cost him the red one.

Seeing themselves in numerical superiority, Almería did not want to settle for a draw and went for the opposite goal, where the figure of

emerged .

The Argentine was key to keeping Villarreal in the game in the face of increasing harassment from the Andalusians, such as the ball he took from

, which he was also unable to hit after the clearance.

He was once again providential against

, which culminated in a good action between

, Melero and Touré.

The former Rayo player wanted to emulate his free-kick goal against Girona last Thursday but this time he found a good stretch from Rulli.

The risks that Almería took also allowed Villarreal to find gaps through which to go on the counterattack and thus managed to find a way to dedicate a victory to José Manuel Llaneza.

Jackson had warned scoring in an action invalidated for offside but the second he did not forgive.

The Senegalese begins to refine his point of view and acquire the pause that his dizzying football sometimes needs.

gave him a ball behind the defense and the striker advanced calmly until he found the right moment to unleash the blow and beat Pacheco, in the last action of the game.

Difficult to find a better way to honor José Manuel Llaneza.

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