Villarreal boss Marcelino has admitted that he was left stunned by his team's 2-0 defeat at home to Sevilla on Sunday.

The Yellow Submarine had a host of golden chances in the first period, but lost out to second-half strikes from Coke and Vitolo.

"After seeing the first half I had to check the score was 0-0 and it was difficult to explain," Marcelino told reporters.

"It was our best opening 45 minutes of the season despite lacking assertiveness. We tried everything we knew but were not capable and eventually lost.

"The difficult thing to take is that we created so many chances and failed to score. However, you need some good fortune in this game and Sevilla were extremely lucky, particularly in the first half."

Villarreal remain sixth in La Liga, six points behind fifth-placed Sevilla.