Twelve corners, two clear cut penalty calls ruled off, Gareth Bale’s goal called off and another superb first half performance, shots: 28-10, pass accuracy: 89%-85%, chances created: 26-9 and possession: 58%-42% in their favour; all that accounted for nothing as Pablo Fornals scored in the 87th minute as Villarreal defeated Real Madrid 1-0 to push the holders further down.
It has so often been the case this season that Real Madrid start brightly before an average second half costs them. Madrid’s front line, especially Cristiano Ronaldo kept knocking the doors in the first half but few great saves and some harsh calls, they were denied penalty close to half an hour mark, kept the scores 0-0 at the break.
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It looked like their struggles in the past few games were coming to a halt but that was not the case to be. The Yellow submarine came back strongly. They created few great chances but were denied by brilliant Casemiro and Keylor Navas.
However as the clock ticked closer to 90 minutes mark, Real Madrid over committed and as they were looking to break the deadlock they conceded on the break. A brilliant low header while defending a corner created the chance before Navas cleared but the follow through was calmly chipped over the goalkeeper by Fornals in the 87th minute and the defenders were caught napping.
The score remained 1-0 when the referee blew the final whistle and that meant Madrid dropped further, not just behind leaders Barcelona but also behind second placed Atletico Madrid and third placed Valencia. Villarreal moved within a point of their today’s rivals on 5th position.