The year started badly in the league for Real Madrid. Already battered in the King’s Cup by Cacereno, a fourth division club, earlier in the week, Carlo Ancelotti’s men lost this Saturday on the lawn of Villarreal (2-1), in a precious match for the title race . Spectacular and full of opportunities, the meeting nevertheless fell on two penalties: a first, successful, by Karim Benzema, which Gerard Moreno responded perfectly, to offer victory to his team in front of an ecstatic public.
If the first period was removed, with in particular a strike on the post of Francis Coquelin (5th) at the start of the match for Villarreal, it was during the second that the match settled. Taking advantage of the approximations of Ferland Mendy, guilty of a bad recovery, it was Pino, as a finisher, who opened the scoring for the Yellow Submarine (1-0). To come back to the score, Real relied on the inevitable Benzema, author of his eighth goal in La Liga this season. The Frenchman was impeccable when deceiving Pepe Reina from the penalty spot (1-1, 60th), after an opposing hand fault.
Alaba unhappy
But Madrid’s joy was very short-lived: two minutes later, the referee had the whistle in his mouth again, this time to penalize David Alaba, in turn author of a hand after an involuntary fall in the box . Unhappy, the Austrian asked for clemency, but did not win his case. Gravedigger of Real’s hopes, Gerard Moreno, already decisive passer on the first goal, then showed the necessary coolness to convert his penalty and give victory to Villarreal (2-1, 63rd).
For Carlo Ancelotti, this defeat means that his bet did not pay off: the coach had made a bold choice before the meeting, by only starting foreign players, a first for the club in the 21st century. But the appearances of Lucas Vasquez and Marco Asensio during the second half did not change the situation anyway. Despite this defeat, Real retained second place in La Liga, tied on points with FC Barcelona, but with one game more. He therefore risks seeing the Blaugranas fly away, if they win at Atlético Madrid on Sunday (9 p.m.).