Villarreal fall against the Whites at the Santiago Bernabéu (3-2)
Villarreal fell 3-2 against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. Goals from Gerard Moreno and Jaume Costa were not enough to get a point at the Whites’ ground. The home side’s strikes came from Mariano Díaz, who scored twice, and Jesús Vallejo.
Javi Calleja went for an attacking XI to take to the Santiago Bernabéu pitch. The Yellows manager made three changes from the last match against SD Huesca. Vicente Iborra, Alfonso Pedraza and Gerard Moreno replaced Santi Cáseres and Karl Toko Ekambi, who were suspended, as well as Carlos Bacca.
The match started in the worst way possible for Villarreal. In the second minute, Brahim Díaz robbed the ball near the Yellows box, before playing it to Mariano, who found himself between the two centre-backs to place it past Andrés Fernández. There was a hill to climb for the Yellow Submarine.
Despite the blow of conceding a goal early on, Villarreal did not give up and quickly reacted. In the 11th minute, Álvaro González anticipated well and picked Casemiro’s pockets. He passed it to Gerard, who from the edge of the box, beat Thibaut Courtois with a potent shot into the top corner at the near post. The Yellow Submarine drew the tie level.
Immediately after the Yellows’ equaliser, Real Madrid threw everything forward. Dani Carvajal hit the post. Then Brahim and Marcelo once more knocked on Villarreal’s door, but an excellent Fernández kept the tie level.
With nearly half an hour on the clock, Villarreal once more pushed forward. After a magnificent piece of triangulation between Samu Chukwueze and Pablo Fornals, the Spanish midfielder sent a shot just over the Courtois’ bar. Only two minutes later, the Nigerian attacker, after a great piece of solo action, tried his luck with a low effort, which the opposition goalkeeper kept out at full stretch.
In the 40th minute, Real Madrid once more took the lead. After a powerful effort from Marcelo from the edge of the box, Vallejo found himself with an open goal from a rebound. Yet again, luck did not favour the Yellows.
Four minutes after the interval, the home side scored their third. Mariano made the most of a low Carvajal cross, which came from a through ball from Fede Valverde, to find the back of the net once more.
During the second half, Real Madrid carried on pushing forward, but Fernández stopped them from adding to their total with two fabulous saves, first from Brahim, and then from Marcelo.
With 15 minutes left, Chukwueze could have pulled one back with an effort from the heart of the area that went wide. Five minutes later, Gerard tried his luck, but was denied by Courtois. In the closing moments, Carlos Bacca caused problems, but was unsuccessful in finding the back of the Whites’ net. In the 94th minute, the Yellows did score, thanks to Costa’s great shot from just inside the box. There was no time for anything else and a combative Villarreal left the Santiago Bernabéu empty-handed.
Lineups:
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal; Vallejo, Varane, Marcelo; Casemiro, Kross, Valverde (Isco, m. 62); Lucas Vázquez (Asensio, m. 62), Brahim (Vinicius, m. 74), Mariano.
Villarreal CF: Andrés Fdez; Mario Gaspar (J. Costa, m. 82), Álvaro, Funes Mori, Quintillà; Iborra, S. Cazorla; Chukwueze, P. Fornals (Bacca, m. 72), Pedraza (M. Trigueros, m. 56); Gerard.
Goals: 1-0. Min. 2: Mariano. 1-1. Min. 11: Gerard Moreno. 2-1. Min. 40: Vallejo. 3-1. Min. 49: Mariano. 3-2. Min. 94: J. Costa.
Referee: Gil Manzano. Booked: Funes Mori, Álvaro, Iborra (Villarreal).
Matchday information: Match between Real Madrid and Villarreal corresponding to Matchday 36 of LaLiga at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, with an attendance of 46,294.
