The Nigeria international featured prominently for the Yellow Submarine in their defeat to Javi Gracia’s men 

Samuel Chukwueze was in action as Villarreal lost 2-1 against Valencia in Friday’s La Liga game at Estadio Mestalla.

The Nigeria international made his second start for the Yellow Submarine and made his contribution in the encounter but his effort was enough to help his side avoid a defeat.

Chukwueze started in the midfield along with Moi Gomez, Daniel Parejo and Etienne Capoue behind forwards Paco Alcacer and Gerard Moreno.

The fleet-footed forward won the man-of-the-match in his last outing for Unai Emery‘s men against Atletico Madrid but struggled to build on the fine performance at Estadio Mestalla.

Both sides aimed for an early goal in the encounter but the goals did not come until the 40th minute when Gerard Moreno broke the deadlock, converting from the penalty spot.

With the game looking to end the way of Villarreal, Javi Gracia’s men stunned their visitors after coming from behind to secure all three points in the encounter.

Carlos Soler levelled proceedings for the Bats in the 86th minute, firing home his effort from the spot after Maximiliano Gomez was brought down in the area.

Goncalo Guedes then scored the all-important winning goal moments before the end of the game, dribbling past his markers before unleashing his strike beyond the reach of goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.

Chukwueze featured for the duration of the game in his 26th appearance across all competitions this season.

The Nigeria international made one key pass, completed one dribble and had a 75 percent successful pass rate in the game.

Villarreal are now winless in their last two games which have seen them dropped to the seventh spot on the league table with 37 points from 26 games.

Chukwueze recently returned from Inguinal Hernia problems and has now scored two goals and provided five assists this season.

The forward has been delivering fine performances for Villarreal since his promotion to the first team in 2018.

The winger will hope to help his side return to winning ways when they take on Dynamo Kyiv in a Europa League game on March 11.

The21-year-old will be expected to be part of Gernot Rohr’s team that will take on the Republic of Benin and Lesotho in the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Chukwueze has made 17 appearances for the Nigeria national team since he made his debut against Uganda in 2018.

source:- goal