The Saints U23s are in the semi-finals where they’ll face either Reading, Dinamo Zagreb or the winner of Leicester City and Bayern Munich.
Southampton Under-23s have reached the semi-finals of the Premier League International Cup thanks to a superb 2-1 win over their Villarreal counterparts at Staplewood on Wednesday night.
The Saints were eager to bounce back from a 2-1 defeat to Reading U23s in the Premier League 2 last week, their first league defeat of 2019, but they were up against a very experienced Villarreal side.
Nonetheless, Radhi Jaidi’s charges took the lead through the impressive Will Smallbone, who netted a first half penalty after the opposition was penalised for bringing Nathan Tella down in the box.
Just before the hour, Villarreal were level as Fran Alvarez flicked the ball over the onrushing Harry Lewis, but within a few minutes, Smallbone turned provider with a cross which captain Tom O’Connor nodded inside the post.
A dramatic game culminated in a controversial finale as second-half substitute Christian Norton was dismissed in stoppage time after catching Carlos Blanco with a trailing elbow, before an end-of-game fracas resulted in Dan N’Lundulu and Blanco also being shown red cards.
Southampton’s U23s will now take on either Reading, Dinamo Zagreb or the winner of Leicester City against Bayern Munich in the final four, and after the final whistle, some Saints fans reacted on Twitter:
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