Villarreal are 18th with two points, and their goalkeeper handed Betis both goals in four minutes
Gerard Moreno put Villarreal ahead at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Monday night. Cucho Hernandez and Natan scored either side of the 40th minute, and Betis went third while Villarreal stayed in the relegation zone.
Sep 15, 2026
Villarreal led at the Estadio de la Cerámica for ten minutes on Monday night. By half-time they were behind, and by full-time they were still without a win this season, sitting 18th in La Liga with two points from five matches.
Gerard Moreno had given them the lead in the 29th minute. Cucho Hernández levelled in the 39th, Natan put Real Betis in front in the 43rd, and the second half never produced the equaliser Villarreal’s possession suggested was coming. Betis won 2-1, moved to third on 12 points, and are now level with Real Madrid.
Four minutes that decided it
Both Betis goals came from the same source: Villarreal’s goalkeeper. Abde Ezzalzouli’s shot was pushed out by Peter Gulácsi and Cucho Hernández buried the rebound. Four minutes later a deflected corner was parried into Natan’s path, and the Brazilian centre-back finished into an empty net. Gulácsi arrived in August after 11 years and 362 matches at RB Leipzig. He will not enjoy the replays.
It was Cucho’s first goal of the season. The Colombian arrived at Betis with a reputation for finishing chances exactly like that one, and he had waited five league games for the first.
Villarreal had the better of the opening half-hour and the better of the second half in territory, if not in chances. What they did not have was a way past a Betis side that has spent this season defending a lead rather than chasing one.
Betis are third without scoring many
Seven goals in five matches is not a title-winning attack. Barcelona have scored 21 in the same number of games and lead the table on 15 points. Yet Manuel Pellegrini’s side have four wins from five, including a 1-0 over Real Madrid on 4 September that Troy Parrott settled with nine minutes left, and a 3-2 win at Lille in the Champions League to go with it.
Their only defeat makes no sense next to any of that: 5-2 at Levante on 29 August, three goals shipped in the second half. Every match since has been won by a single goal.
“We’re calm but excited,” Cucho said afterwards. “Difficult moments will come, but unity, honesty and work are non-negotiables here.”
Villarreal are in the relegation zone in September
Two draws, three defeats, seven goals scored and ten conceded. That is Villarreal’s season so far, and it has put a club that finished in the Champions League places last term into the bottom three before the end of September. They lost their European opener too, beaten 3-2 at Borussia Dortmund last week.
Iñigo Pérez has been in charge for the whole of it. There is no panic yet in a league where five matches settle nothing, but the fixture list does not soften: the Yellow Submarine face Málaga away on Thursday before hosting Levante.
Gerard Moreno, at the club since 2018 and a scorer in their Europa League win of 2021, was blunt about it. “Right now everything’s going against us, teams are punishing us,” he said. “We have to stick together and demand more of ourselves.”
The gap to safety is still small. Málaga in 17th are on three points, Elche and Valencia are below Villarreal, and one win reorders the bottom half entirely. But La Liga does not usually hand out that win, and Villarreal have not looked like taking one for a month.