Real Madrid celebrated an easy home win in the evening, beating Villarreal 3-1. One player in particular once again showed his class.
After the 5-0 win against Qairat Almaty, Real coach Xabi Alonso only changed large parts of his defense: Fran Garcia, Alaba, and Asencio made way for Carreras, Eder Militao, and Fede Valverde.
Visiting coach Marcelino also changed his starting eleven in four positions at the end of a busy week and after the 2-2 draw against Juventus Turin: Moleiro, Oluwaseyi, Thomas, and Cardona started in place of Mikautadze, Pepé, Parejo, and Alfonso Pedraza.
Real fails to reward itself
From the outset, it was business as usual, with Los Blancos taking full control of the game and Villarreal defending deep. Nevertheless, the home side created chances, but both Güler (7′) and Mbappé (20′) missed early opportunities to take the lead.
Time and again, the Blancos’ attacks came down the wings: Vinicius Junior and Mastantuono were so active that both Villarreal fullbacks, Cardona and Mourino, had already picked up yellow cards after 21 minutes. Nevertheless, Madrid failed to break through. While Tchouameni failed with a header (22′), Mastantouno also missed a great chance when he failed to beat the brilliantly reacting center back Veiga (23′). And so it came to pass that Villarreal almost took the lead, but Oluwaseyi also missed in front of Courtois (41′). The game remained goalless at the break.
Vinicius Junior breaks the deadlock
Remarkably, visiting coach Marcelino decided not to substitute his suspended full-backs. The second half didn’t take long to get going, as Real scored shortly after the restart: Vinicius Junior shot, Marin deflected into his own goal (47′). Nevertheless, Villarreal, whose attacking play was given new impetus at half-time with the introduction of Mikautadze, did not give up. On the contrary, Pepé found the substitute with a sharp cross, but the 24-year-old missed by a hair’s breadth (67′). In the immediate counterattack, Real were awarded a penalty after a move by Vinicius Junior, which the Brazilian converted himself (69′).
A few minutes later, Villarreal came back in the form of Mikautadze (73′). But the goal was followed by another setback for the visitors: first Mourino was sent off with a second yellow card (77′), then Mbappé sealed the deal after some fine interplay with Diaz (81′). Nothing else happened in the final minutes. Real Madrid celebrated three points and regained the top spot in the table, at least overnight.
Real Madrid will be back in action after the international break on Sunday, October 19, at 9 p.m. at Getafe. Villarreal will face Real Betis a day earlier (6:30 p.m.).
