Villarreal slump to familiar defeat against Ajax

Villarreal 1-2 Ajax

Both Villarreal and Ajax knew that they were almost certainly playing for little more than pride at La Ceramica on Tuesday night, with just four points between them from their 12 games thus far. Marcelino Garcia Toral had promised his side would continue to compete though, and sent out an attacking line-up, with Tani Oluwaseyi, Nicolas Pepe, Alberto Moleiro and Ayoze Perez all starting.

The first half saw Ajax keep plenty of the ball, and they did force Arnau Tenas, in for the rested Luiz Junior, into a fine save 10 minutes before the break. That said, it was Vitezslav Jaros in the Ajax goal that made a number of saves from Villarreal forwards to keep the home side at bay. In particular, Moleiro and Oluwaseyi came close to opening the scoring.

Villarreal continue search for first win in Champions League

It was just four minutes into the second half that Oluwaseyi did so. A long ball from Rafa Marin over the top found Oluwaseyi, who shrugged off a defender, lamping the bouncing ball into the top corner from outside the box – a stunning effort. Ajax did muster a response though, with an Oscar Gloukh free-kick from the left side finding its way into the top corner, the only touch coming from a defender.

Back to square one, Villarreal sent numbers forward again, and it seemed Pepe would be the beneficiary, but he could only scuff his effort into the body of Jaros after getting in behind. That came with 20 minutes to go, and Gerard Moreno cut in from the right, fizzing over. Ajax were also getting openings though, with Gloukh unable to finish after rounding Tenas.

Tanitoluwa Oluwatimilehin Oluwaseyi. pic.twitter.com/xMx5GSaQQz

— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) January 20, 2026

Villarreal, still in pursuit of their first win in the competition, continued to throw players forward, but ended up paying the price again for not capitalising on their dominance. Just as happened against Copenhagen, a free man in the box late on was their downfall, with Oliver Edvardsen converting Anton Gaaei’s cutback from the right, finding the far corner from the centre of the box.

La Ceramica, likely mirroring the internal feelings of the Villarreal players, emptied out, fans, players and coaches fed up of the infuriating nature of their exit from Europe. The Yellow Submarine lie 35th out of 36, with a single point to their name, and a final trip to Bayer Leverkusen to avoid further ignominy in Germany. Before that, they host Real Madrid.