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13.12.2015 » Villarreal 1-0 Real Madrid. Title hopes dashed again...
Not only they failed to capitalize on Barcelona's slip up earlier this weekend, but Madrid even managed to get more behind their biggest rivals, after losing 1-0 to Villarreal and dropping the 3 points in what may have been a crucial fixture in La Liga's title race. Rafa Benítez's men had a lot more possession than their opponents tonight, but the lack of composure in the last third of the pitch costed them the game and the chance to put more pressure on both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. If there's a stat from tonight's game that could sum up what happened in the Madrigal, it would certainly be the fact the Merengues had a total of 20 shots throughout the whole game, but only one of those actually hit the target. Just not good enough...
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Villarreal vs Real Madrid
Villarreal 1-0 Real Madrid - Goals and highlights:
All Cristiano Ronaldo actions vs Villarreal:
After Barcelona's 2-2 draw on Saturday against an inspired Deportivo squad, Madrid headed to the El Madrigal needing a win to get back into the title race. Yet, try as they might, a goal would never come and Villarreal recorded only their third ever victory against Real Madrid, winning 1-0 in front of their home fans. It was Roberto Soldado, the former Castilla man, who would be the difference maker on the day, putting away the winning goal only 9 minutes into the match.
It was a bit of a different look for Madrid today, with Casemiro starting ahead of Toni Kroos. The move was designed to give Real Madrid a bit more defensive stability, but instead, it would be a loss of possession that ended up gifting Villarreal their first goal.
Luka Modric lost the ball deep in his side's midfield to Villarreal's captain Bruno Soriano, who then passed it to Cedric Bakumbu. Bakumbu, who was certainly a threat for Madrid all night long, quickly found Soldado, allowing his teammate tp finish past Keylor Navas. Bakumbu would challenge Madrid's defense a few more times throughout the match, as both Ramos and Pepe struggled to deal with the pace of the Congolese forward.
Real Madrid looked dire for the rest of the half, but they came out in the second with a renewed energy and creating better scoring chances to put things level on the board.
Chance after chance however, would go begging. Karim Benzema in particular was wasteful on the day. The Frenchman, who has been in fine form whenever he's been on the pitch this season, had multiple chances to finish, but his finishing let him down time and time again. Villarreal defended brilliantly at times, with Jonathan Dos Santos putting in an excellent shift in midfield, especially during his 1-on-1 battles with Marcelo.
But the goal would never come and Madrid missed a golden opportunity to cut the lead. Now, the Merengues go 5 points behind of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, as the teams approach the Christmas break and have only 1 more fixture before the festive day comes in.
Author: Terrance Ross
Real Madrid line-up vs Villarreal:
Goalkeeper: Navas
Defenders: Marcelo, Pepe, Ramos, Danilo
Midfielders: Casemiro, Modric, James Rodríguez
Attackers: 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
|
1 |
Goals |
0 |
7 |
Shots |
20 |
3 |
Shots on goal |
1 |
3 |
Corner kicks |
9 |
11 |
Fouls commited |
9 |
2 |
Yellow cards |
2 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
34% |
Ball possession |
66% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game will be for Real Madrid on the 20th of December of 2015, against Rayo Vallecano. You can watch Juventus live stream, Real Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano, Barcelona vs Guangzhou Evergrande, Leicester City vs Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers vs Nottingham Forest, and Bayern Munich vs Darmstadt, all matches provided from our live streaming game pages.
Real Madrid next game:
Real Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano kick-off time (20-12-2015):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+7: 22:00
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+6: 21:00
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+4.30: 19:30
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 16:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 15:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-4: 11:00
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-5: 10:00
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-8: 07:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / bbc.com / goal.com / espnfc.us
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