- Vinicius strikes a beauty from range to kill the match.
- Pepe nearly equalised straight away; alas, his header finds the woodwork.
- Valverde opened the account for Real Madrid with a belter.
Match Report
Real Madrid and Villarreal started the game positively, both looking to attack the other. It was Real Madrid who made the breakthrough 14 minutes into the game. Valverde lined up from range, and his shot took a deflection en route to the bottom corner. That was an absolute belter as Real Madrid went up 1-0.
Villarreal looked like they would equalize in the next minute when a Pepe header came close to finding the net. Instead, it bounced off the woodwork to Los Blancos fans’ relief. Villarreal tried to make inroads during the rest of the first half but Real Madrid had a slight edge over them. Madrid kept good control of the game as the clock ran down to half-time.
The second half started with Real Madrid trying to keep possession while Villarreal continued to search for an equalizer. Ancelotti made a triple change in the 70th minute of the game to spice things up. Also, to rest Mbappe, substituted for Rodrygo, as the manager looked to protect his comeback from injury.
The fresh legs added more aggression to Real’s attack, and it resulted in them scoring their second goal of the evening. Vinicius Junior picked up the ball in a central area and slammed a stunner into the top corner. Incredible. 2-0 for Real Madrid!
The Vinicius wondergoal sucked the fight out of Villarreal, whose shoulders dropped after going 2-0 down. Real Madrid kept the upper-hand momentum going as they edged out Villarreal for a comfortable win. Toni Kross, watching from the crowd, would have been happy to see his former team win.
The game ended on a sour note as Carvajal went down with a bad-looking head injury. Thankfully, he was back up on his feet for a post-match interview with Band-Aids on his forehead.
Carlo Ancelotti and his team would be happy with the victory as they close in on Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table. Barcelona, facing Deportivo Alaves tomorrow, would look to get a win and stretch out their 3-point lead again.
