Villarreal Striker Gerard Moreno Threatens To Miss Liverpool Due To Injury, Unai Emery: This Condition Makes Everyone Frustrated
JAKARTA - Villarreal's mainstay striker Gerard Moreno may miss the first leg of the Champions League semifinal against Liverpool. The striker scored in the Yellow Submarine's 2-1 win over Getafe on Saturday and was then injured.
Moreno scored against Getafe before being substituted in the second half with an injury to his right thigh muscle.
The 30-year-old underwent tests on Sunday to diagnose the extent of the injury. Villarreal still have 10 days before playing the first leg against Liverpool at Anfield.
Moreno has had a difficult time through injury, having suffered problems in October and February and has been out of action for over a month.
"We'll see how serious the injury is. It's been a bad year for him," Villarreal coach Unai Emery said after the match. "This situation frustrates everyone, let's see how he turns out."
After beating Bayern Munich by surprise in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 1-1 draw in Munich on Tuesday, Villarreal claimed victory against a Getafe side who are trying to secure survival in Spain's top flight.
Despite their heroics in the Champions League, Emery's side are still adrift for European qualification, with this win taking them six points behind Real Sociedad in sixth.
Villarreal took the lead in the seventh minute through Moreno after Manu Trigueros' high effort was met by Paco Alcacer who then crossed for Moreno to find the net against Getafe.
Nine minutes later, the visitors doubled their lead after this time Moreno slipped into Trigueros' goal and steered a fine finish into the far corner.
Enes Unal pulled one back for Getafe after an hour and Unal also asked for a late penalty after a tackle from Aissa Mandi. With that result, Villarreal put Getafe in 15th place in the LaLiga standings, four points above the bottom three teams.
While in the previous match on the same day, Valencia suffered their first defeat in eight matches at home to Osasuna, who won 2-1 at the Mestalla. This result makes Osasuna jump over Valencia to ninth.