Villarreal 3 Espanyol 1: Soldado inspires turnaround

Roberto Soldado continued his impressive start to life at Villarreal by inspiring a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Espanyol on Friday.

Having flopped at Tottenham following a big-money 2013 move from Valencia, Soldado returned to La Liga earlier this month, penning a three-year deal with Villarreal.

And after scoring on debut against Real Betis last time out, the striker was again on target to cancel out an early strike from Felipe Caicedo at El Madrigal, before setting up two late goals for substitute Cedric Bakambu.

Espanyol’s fifth-minute opener owed much to a former Villarreal player, Gerard Moreno putting Caicedo through on goal with a delightful throughball, played with the outside of his right boot.

Caicedo rounded goalkeeper Alphonse Areola before finishing coolly, but the hosts pulled level in style midway through the second half.

Samu’s first-time flick picked out Soldado, who found the bottom-left corner with a controlled volley on the turn.

Soldado was not finished there as he played a slide-rule pass into the path of Bakambu with three minutes remaining and watched the substitute convert from an acute angle.

The same duo then combined again in injury time, Bakambu following up his first goal for Villarreal with a second from another Soldado assist.