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14.09.2013 » Villarreal 2-2 Real Madrid. Bale and Ronaldo goals were not enough
Real Madrid got held to a 2-2 draw against Villarreal this Saturday night and the truth is that if there was to be any winner coming out of the pitch, it would have to be the "yellow submarine" side. Ancelotti went on to this game with Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo right from the start, but the Merengues never managed to control the game as they surely wanted. The highest number of goalscoring chances belonged to Villarreal and Diego López ended up being one of the busiest man on the pitch. After Cani's opening goal, Bale got to score the equaliser on his highly anticipated debut, but he would end up seeing Cristiano Ronaldo sending Madrid to the lead from the bench, as he got replaced by Angel Dí Maria around the 60th minute of the game. Villarreal got back to level terms shortly after the Portuguese goal and Real Madrid can only thank Diego López for not having conceded any more goals last night at the "El Madrigal".
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Villarreal vs Real Madrid
Villarreal 2-2 Real Madrid goals and highlights video:
It was public knowledge that Gareth Bale wasn't ready yet to play an entire game and given that, the likelihood of Ancelotti picking him for the starting line-up wasn't that high. The Italian coach surprised though and came out to the "El Madrigal" with an upfront attack including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema. In midfield, the team felt for the first time what it would be like to play orphan of Arsenal's new signing Mesut Ozil and the truth is that the first impressions weren't very encouraging for the near future.
Villarreal grabbed the lead before the first half an hour of the game and after having already created a few good chances to score. Real Madrid's defense showed too much permissiveness in what concerns cutting down the spaces and defending with intensity, which is usually a good recipe for conceding goals against teams like Villarreal. As the 21th minute was going by, the home side exchanged a few passes near the Merengues penalty area, benefited from a small rebound in a very dangerous area and Cani got to strike the ball past Diego López. The Spanish goalkeeper really didn't have much he could have done to deny the Villarreal number 10's shot due to its proximity.
Things didn't exactly got much better from that point onwards and Villarreal kept pushing forward and creating danger. However, the next goal coming up would be the equaliser and it would be the debutant Gareth Bale who got to score it. In the 38th minute of the first half, Luka Modric found Carvajal with a low pass and the Spanish right-back was able to run a few meters ahead as he entered his opponent's penalty area. The former Bayern Leverkusen player then made a low cross right to the middle which Gareth Bale had no problem to answer and tap-in the ball into an empty net. That's the first goal the Welshman scores for the Merengues and let's just hope it's the first of many more to come...
The game reached half-time with the 1-1 draw on the scoreline and with the confirmation that Villarreal's great start in La Liga wasn't happening by chance. Marcelino Toral's men had won their first 3 games of the season and from what we had seen in the first 45 minutes, they seemed more than capable of adding Real Madrid as their next victims.
Carlo Ancelotti decided not to do any significant changes right after the break, as he only had planned to bring two new players around the 60th minute. That was precisely when Gareth Bale got substituted for Angel Di María, and when Illarramendi made room for Sami Khedira. We can't exactly say that the team improved significantly with the two additions, but at least it seemed to have helped the Merengues picking up the lead just 4 minutes later. Real Madrid initiated a counter-attack with Cristiano Ronaldo leading the offensive charge and after a pass to the right for Karim Benzema, the Portuguese star simply waited for a rebound coming from his teammate strike and finished it off. The ball still deflected in a Villarreal defender and in the goalkeeper before going in, but the goal should be credited to Ronaldo.
Unfortunately, Real Madrid couldn't hang on to that 1-goal advantage for too long and got punished at the back a few minutes later. Villarreal's first goal scorer Cani, got granted with too much space near the entrance of the Merengues' penalty area and was able to find room to strike the ball with good strength and precision. Diego López stopped it by blocking it and sending the ball to his right side, but the Mexican and former Barcelona player Giovanni dos Santos picked up the rebound and managed to beat Lopez for the second time on the night. The Merengues were never a truly dominant force in the game and ended up letting two valuable points slipping away from their hands in the Madrigal.
With Barcelona and Atletico Madrid winning their league games, Real Madrid is now on third place tied with Villarreal, but two points behind the two league leaders. Next week we'll have the Champions League 2013/14 kicking off and hopefully we'll be able to alreayd see some improvements on Real Madrid's side. The Merengues are travelling to Turkey for a Galatasaray vs Real Madrid clash, and a victory would put them on a great position to start preparing the attack to the much-wanted "La Décima".
Real Madrid line-up vs Villarreal:
Goalkeeper: Diego López
Defenders: Nacho, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Carvajal
Midfielders: Illarramendi, Modric, Isco
Attackers: Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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|---|---|---|
Villarreal
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vs
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Real Madrid
|
2 |
Goals |
2 |
15 |
Shots |
20 |
6 |
Shots on goal |
6 |
10 |
Corner kicks |
3 |
14 |
Fouls commited |
11 |
2 |
Yellow cards |
3 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
41% |
Ball possession |
59% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Real Madrid will be in the UEFA Champions League this Tuesday (September 17, 2013), against Galatasaray at the "Turk Telekom Arena". You can watch Juventus live stream, Galatasary vs Real Madrid, Bayern Munich vs CSKA, Manchester United vs Bayer Leverkusen and Viktoria Plzen vs Manchester City, all matches provided from our soccer live section.
Real Madrid next game:
Galatasaray vs Real Madrid kick-off time (17-09-2013):
Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 01:45
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+2: 20:45
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+1: 19:45
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-3: 15:45
New York (United States) | GMT-4: 14:45
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-7: 11:45
Beijing (China) | GMT+8: 02:45
Sources: ronaldo7.net / theguardian.com / realmadrid.com
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