Perez scores the late winner for leaders Villarreal against Valldolid in LaLiga

Real Valladolid suffered a third straight defeat at the Estadio José Zorrilla for the first time since February 2021 as a 2-1 loss to Villarreal dented their chances of survival.

After ending a run of three straight defeats with a 3-2 win over Alaves in their last game, Real Valladolid were clearly still on a high and started in the lead. And they felt a little overwhelmed early on when they felt a handball from Raúl Albion should have resulted in a penalty.

However, despite the initial pressure, Valladolid failed midway through the first half.

There was also a touch of simplicity in their opener as a great shot from Kiko Femenia was deflected into the goal by Thierno Barry, who rose highest into the box and headed home his third goal of the season.

However, the game could soon have been lost for the hosts, as they had Karl Hein to thank for it, who made a great save to prevent Nicolas Pepe from doubling the visitors' lead.

There was more pressure of this kind in the second half, and if Barry's shot over the crossbar wasn't a warning sign that Villarreal were on the verge of putting the game over the hosts, then Alex Baena's shot was in a few moments It was definitely the one that shook the post before.

They were left to rue those missed chances just moments later when Logan Costa brought down Mamadou Sylla due to a loss of concentration in the penalty area and the Valladolid striker dusted himself off to equalize from the penalty spot.

That equalizer seemed to be a harsh wake-up call for Villarreal, who came back to life and tried to take the lead again.

It was substitute Pape Gueye who came close to that immediate response as he forced Hein into a clever save to keep the hosts on level terms.

But the decisive moment finally came just over five minutes from time when the hosts ignored the earlier warning signs and Ayoze Perez headed Baena's shot at the far post to score the winner and secure the visitors' fifth win in the last eight Encounters.

Flashscore Man of the match: Alex Baena (Villarreal)

Check out the game summary here