Chukwueze gets first La Liga start as Villarreal brush aside Alaves in seven-goal thriller

Nigeria's Samuel Chukwueze was handed his first La Liga start of the season as Villarreal overcame a scare to beat Alaves 5-2 at the Estadio de la Ceramica.

Chukwueze featured for 73 minutes as Gerard Moreno and Senegal's Boulaye Dia both scored a brace each to inspire Villarreal to a fifth consecutive win in all competitions.

The 22-year-old created three chances, three key passes, completed 100% of his dribbles and helped out in defence as he made three recoveries in the club's last game of the year.

He also had two shots in, one of them nearly doubled Villarreal's advantage on 61 minutes but Chukwueze watched as his left-footed attempt went astonishingly wide.

Moments after Chukwueze's chance, Villarreal were made to regret the miss as Alaves equalised through Joselu, who capitalised on a howler at the back to level the scores at 2-2.

The Nigerian was substituted seven minutes later by Yeremy Pino, who went on to score the fourth of the evening after Dia's second goal of the night three minutes earlier restored Villarreal's lead at 3-2.

Moreno wrapped up an impressive win night and win for the Yellows when he made it 5-2 two minutes from time.