After seeing their archrivals from Barcelona drop three points against Malaga last weekend, you expect Real Madrid to step up their game and win today’s game against Villarreal to sit four points above of FC Barcelona. Instead, they went in today’s match and came out with one point instead of three, allowing Barcelona to be two points behind them. With the Clasico coming up in less than three weeks, this is not what Real Madrid wanted the result to be against Villarreal.
Once again, Cristiano Ronaldo struggled to find the net throughout the game and was able to score through a penalty, but again, was not the best performance by the Ballon d’Or winner.
Villarreal went in as the underdog at the Santiago Bernabeu, never winning a match at this stadium. But things were different today as Villarreal gave Real Madrid everything they had and pressured them throughout the whole game. Villarreal had a chance to take the lead around the 12th minute when Gerard Moreno got the rebound from one of his teammates going for the shot. Real Madrid players called for the offsides but the play continued. Moreno got it inside the box, and went three on one as he went for shot and Iker Casillas saved the ball with his legs. Moi Gomes then got the rebound and also went for goal but Dani Carvajal became the hero as he saved the ball from going in with his head and Iker came to congratulate him in the beautiful save.
The majority of the first half was all Villarreal as they continued to pressure Real Madrid but it stayed scoreless. In the 50th minute, as Ronaldo was going inside the box to find the ball, Eric Bailly brought down Ronaldo and Real Madrid was awarded the penalty. This was the only goal for Real Madrid as Ronaldo took the penalty and got his team in the lead.
In the 63rd minute, Moreno got Villarreal back even in the game. He received a cross down from one of his teammates just outside the box, who found Luciano Vietto. Vietto tried to get it back to Gerard and as he did, the ball bounced off the Real Madrid defenders and Gerard was able to get to the rebound. This allowed him to go for a shot just outside the box and equalize the match.
The last 20 minutes of the game both teams kept pressuring one another but neither team was able to find the net as the game ended 1-1. The man of the match goes out to the hero, goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo of Villarreal, as he saved Villarreal many times from falling behind throughout the game. Real Madrid faces Athletic Bilbao on Saturday with the hopes of acquiring three more points while Villarreal faces ninth place Celta Vigo on Sunday and get closer to Sevilla and take fifth place.
Photo by: Denis Goyle/Getty Images
