Lyon 0 Villarreal 2: Soriano, Baptistao seal comfortable win in Emirates Cup

Villarreal made it two wins from two at the Emirates Cup as Bruno Soriano and Leo Baptistao helped the Spanish side to a 2-0 win over Lyon on Sunday.

Marcelino’s men beat Wolfsburg 2-1 on Saturday and gave themselves hope of winning the pre-season competition as Lyon – hammered 6-0 by Arsenal in their opening fixture – were beaten again.

Despite Lyon offering much of the early threat, Villarreal led through a Soriano penalty half an hour in after Dylan Mboumbouni clattered into Javier Espinosa.

There was nothing clumsy about Villarreal’s second however – on-loan striker Baptistao timing his run perfectly and beating goalkeeper Mathieu Gorgelin early in the second half.

Lyon’s Aldo Kalulu had the first clear-cut chance of the game when his sidefooted effort was tipped around the post by Paris Saint-Germain loanee Alphonse Areola 13 minutes in.

The Ligue 1 side continued to apply pressure – close-season signing Claudio Beauvue testing Areola with a long-range free-kick, before Gorgelin was required to keep out Samu Castillejo following a quick break at the other end.

Steed Malbranque rattled the Villarreal crossbar after 20 minutes from the edge of the area and then Mboumbouni’s clumsy challenge on Espinosa handed Soriano the chance to score from the spot.

Captain Soriano duly converted to give Marcelino’s men a half-time advantage.

The skipper was replaced at the break by Manu Trigueros, with the Spanish side starting the second half on top and doubling their advantage through Baptistao after 54 minutes.

A superb pass from Gerard Moreno set the Atletico Madrid loanee in on goal before he dinked the ball over the onrushing Gorgelin.

Lyon introduced highly-rated forward Nabil Fekir soon afterwards and the Ligue 1 side almost found a way back into the game when Yassine Benzia rippled the side-netting after the hour mark.

Beauvue saw an audacious acrobatic effort go wayward as Lyon hopes faded, Villarreal moving top of the group ahead of Sunday’s finale between Arsenal and Wolfsburg.