For 76 minutes Villarreal looked as though they had finally found the footing that had eluded them all season. Then Deportivo did what the best sides do when the door is left ajar: they kicked it clean off its hinges. A 3-2 win at the Estadio de la Cerámica, built on the poise of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the nerve of a team that refused to accept defeat, lifted the visitors into the top four and left the hosts marooned near the foot of La Liga.

This was a match that swung twice on its axis before Deportivo wrenched it away for good. Villarreal led early, were pegged back before the break, retook the lead through a cruel deflection, and were then overrun in a nine-minute spell that flipped the scoreboard and the mood entirely. For a home crowd starved of a win, it was the harshest kind of lesson.

The final ledger reads Villarreal 2, Deportivo 3, but the numbers barely capture the whiplash. A game that had the shape of a hard-earned home victory dissolved into a night that will haunt the yellow half of the Cerámica, and one that Deportivo will file away as proof of how far they have come.

Pepe's early strike

Villarreal could hardly have asked for a brighter opening. On 19 minutes Ayoze Pérez broke at pace, sprung a Deportivo defence caught flat, and rolled the ball into the path of Nicolas Pepe. The winger did the rest, opening his body and steering a left-footed finish from the right side of the box beyond the goalkeeper and into the centre of the net.

It was the sort of quick, ruthless counter that suggested Villarreal had finally learned to marry their possession with a cutting edge. The lead settled the home side, and for a spell they carried the swagger of a team ready to claim their first three points of the campaign.

But leads, this season, have proved slippery things for Villarreal. Two draws and two defeats before kick-off had already exposed a brittleness, and Deportivo were not about to let a single moment of brilliance decide the afternoon.

Deportivo find their range

The equaliser arrived two minutes before the interval, and it bore the fingerprints of the man who would define the evening. Aubameyang, dropping into pockets and pulling strings, teed up Luismi Cruz on the edge of the area. The finish was clinical: a right-footed strike from the centre of the box that nestled into the bottom right corner, silencing the ground and restoring parity at the break.

The half-time whistle sounded on a contest reset. Deportivo, unbeaten and full of belief, walked off knowing they had weathered the storm and were level on merit. Villarreal, meanwhile, were left to reflect on how quickly their advantage had evaporated.

What followed after the restart was a tense, cagey affair, both sides wary of the next mistake. When the decisive moment came on 76 minutes, it was as unfortunate as they come. A Villarreal attack forced its way into the box and Adama Traoré, under pressure, turned the ball into his own net. VAR checked, VAR confirmed, and the Cerámica roared as the hosts edged back in front.

A ruthless finale

A lesser side might have folded. Deportivo did the opposite. Within three minutes they were level again, and again Aubameyang was the architect. His pass released Zakaria Eddahchouri on the left, and the substitute — or whoever had drifted into that channel — planted a left-footed finish into the bottom left corner. From behind to level in the blink of an eye, the visitors sensed the game was theirs for the taking.

So it proved. On 88 minutes, Aubameyang decided he had provided enough and would now finish the job himself. Bursting into the right side of the box, he opened up and swept a right-footed strike into the bottom left corner, wheeling away as Deportivo's bench emptied. Two assists and the winner: a captain's performance in the truest sense.

Villarreal had no time to respond, and perhaps no answer even if they had. Three times in twelve minutes the ball had ended up in a net, and each swing left the hosts a little more hollow. The Cerámica emptied to a silence that spoke of a season already threatening to slip away.

Table tells the tale

The consequences are stark. Deportivo climb to fourth on eight points, unbeaten from their opening four with two wins and two draws, and now carrying the momentum of a side that believes it belongs among La Liga's early pacesetters. To come from behind twice on the road and win says as much about their character as their quality.

For Villarreal, the picture darkens by the week. Sixteenth on just two points, with no victory to show from four matches, they have now conceded eight and shipped goals at the worst possible moments. Twice they led here and twice they were caught, a pattern that hints at deeper fragilities than any single afternoon can explain.

The margins were fine, but the outcome was emphatic. Deportivo leave Castellón as genuine contenders for the upper reaches; Villarreal are left to arrest a slide before it hardens into a crisis. When the sides parted, one carried the glow of a top-four side and the other the weight of a long season still to be salvaged.