Villarreal secure Europa League berth with narrow Elche win

Villarreal have secured a Europa League berth courtesy of a 1-0 win over Elche in their La Liga clash at the Estadio El Madrigal on Sunday.

The visitors nearly drew first blood when Jonathas planted a header towards goal from close range in the eighth minute, but goalkeeper Juan Carlos was able to save.

Elche kept threatening as Pedro Mosquera struck the post, but the pendulum then swung the way of the hosts as Eric Bailly and Jonathan dos Santos came close to open the scoring.

The deadlock was broken by Villarreal in the 26th minute when the prolific Joel Campbell nodded into the top-left corner of the net from a few yards out.

In what proved to be an open, engaging game, Elche hit the woodwork once again with two minutes to go, but they were unable to level proceedings as Marcelino Garcia Toral's side secured all three points.

The result means that Villarreal remain sixth and are now eight points clear of seventh-placed Espanyol in the table with two games to go, while Elche have nothing to play for in 13th place.