July 31, (THEWILL) – On Saturday afternoon, Spanish team, Villarreal, defeated Southampton 2-1 at St. Mary’s stadium in the final preseason match, which was won by Villarreal, with Joe Aribo scoring a remarkable solo debut goal for Southampton.
Yeremy Pino’s low header past Gavin Bazunu gave Unai Emery’s team, Champions League semifinalists last season, the only goal of the first half.
However, Aribo’s sensational solo effort around the hour mark brought the two teams even to the delight of the Southampton supporters. Moments later, Aribo once more had the ball in the net, but was called for offside.
Soon after, Villarreal took the lead for the second time as captain, Gerard Moreno, took advantage of some shoddy defending from Jan Bednarek to put the visitors back in front.
There were no further goals as Southampton get a week to shake the preseason loss off and prepare for their 2022/2023 English Premier League opener away against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
