Villarreal 2-1 Real Madrid: Goals from Yeremy Pino and Gerard Moreno halted Galactico’s lackluster charge for LaLiga’s top spot, with the Yellow Submarine now three games unbeaten in the league.
- Villarreal beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Saturday
- Yeremy Pino’s powerful strikes put the hosts ahead early in the second half
- Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema soon split the lead from the post
- Gerard Moreno restored the hosts’ lead from another penalty two minutes later
Villarreal beat Real Madrid 2-1 on Saturday night at the Estadio de la Cerámica to claim their third straight win in LaLiga.
A loose pass from Ferland Mendy saw Carlo Ancelotti’s side go a goal down early in the second half, with Gerard Moreno playing a superb pass out to Pino, who smashed a powerful shot against Thibaut Courtois to give Villarreal a 1-0 lead.
Their lead was almost split soon after, with Vinicius Junior playing a lovely no-look through-ball to Karim Benzema, who deflected his shot inches wide of the post – that would be the story of the match for in Madrid who failed to get their chance.
Yeremy Pino’s (L) second-half strike gave the home side a 1-0 lead over Madrid
Karim Benzema immediately leveled from the spot after Juan Foyth handled the ball in the area
But Benzema soon made up for his mistake, beating Pepe Reina from the spot with a low effort after a lengthy VAR review awarded Los Blancos a penalty following a handball inside the box from the Villarreal full-back Juan Foyth.
That was not the end of a lively start to the second half with Madrid conceding a penalty after just two minutes, with David Alaba struggling to keep his footing before handling the ball awkwardly.
Gerard Moreno cooly stepped up to restore the home side’s lead to score his second LaLiga goal of the season.
After a lengthy VAR review, Foyth appears to have handled a through ball on Madrid’s Vinicius Junior (L)
Gerard Moreno (L) restored the home sides’ lead after just two minutes with a cool spot-kick
Villarreal got off to a fast start and could have scored inside the opening five minutes, with Francis Coquelin sweeping a massive back-heel past the post.
Madrid, who before the match were level on points with Barcelona at the start of the match, eventually found their footing, with Karim Benzema orchestrating their revival, firing a shot over the bar before tee up to Eder Militao, who slips his shot a whisker wide of the post.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side continued to press against Villarreal and it wasn’t long before Vinicius Junior latched onto a loose pass to unleash a powerful low shot, but it was well saved by Pepe Reina.
could have put the home side with the biggest chances in the first half, sweeping a low cross onto the post with his good footwork
Vinicius Junior ran onto a loose pass inside the box unleashing a low shot towards goal but Pepe Reina anticipated the shot and made an easy save, balling it out for a corner.
More to follow…
It was a frustrating first half for Madrid who failed to convert several clear chances
Francis Coquelin’s slick back-heel could have put the hosts on their feet within five minutes of the match
