Real 3-2 Villarreal

By: Corey | January 28th, 2008

Another solid performance from Real, they have banished the memory of the Copa del Rey losses. Although Schuster needs to work on defending corners with the lads, the 10 minute highlight reel I saw I was impressed with. Of course I missed another 80 or so minutes of the game, but the fact that we can handle a pressure cooker game against the #3 team in the league and have Barca drop points to Bilbao on the road makes me think the league is looking ours for the taking right now.

Match Stats
Real Madrid Villarreal
Shots (on Goal) 18(12) 15(4)
Fouls 13 19
Corner Kicks 9 12
Offsides 5 0
Time of Possession 55% 45%
Yellow Cards 1 2
Red Cards 0 0
Saves 2 9

I am extremely busy as usual, so here is a deferred recap from espnsoccernet:

Real Madrid stretched their lead at the top of the Primera Liga on Sunday after edging past battling Villarreal at the Bernabeu.

With second-placed Barca drawing with Athletic Bilbao earlier in the evening, Real’s victory over Villarreal means the reigning champions are now nine points clear at the summit.

Third-placed Villarreal are now 15 points behind the leaders, who have won eight league games on the trot and are looking simply unstoppable.

Villarreal had the sixth-worst defensive record in La Liga this season coming into the match, but they had kept clean sheets in their previous three outings.

However, they managed to keep Real out for just eight minutes before Robinho latched on to a superb Guti pass and curled a first-time shot into the far corner of the net from 18 yards out.

That was just the start Villarreal would have been hoping to avoid, but the Yellow Submarine quickly regrouped and Marcos Senna bravely put his head to a loose ball in the Real box, only to see his effort clear the bar.

Villarreal were more successful with their next opportunity though, as Giuseppe Rossi drew them level in the 15th minute. Nihat Kahveci played a pass into his strike partner on the edge of the Real box and then raced through looking for the return ball.

However, Rossi decided to cut inside and, after evading the challenge of fellow Italian Fabio Cannavaro, curled a pinpoint shot past Iker Casillas and into the top corner.

That was the first goal Casillas had conceded in 574 minutes of league action, and it was no more than a sprightly Villarreal deserved.

Rossi’s effort proved to be the last goal of an engaging first half, but Real will feel they had done enough to re-take the lead.

Robinho, Michel Salgado and Guti all had shots well saved by Diego Lopez, while Ruud van Nistelrooy – plus almost everyone else in the stadium except, crucially, referee Alfonso Alvarez Izquierdo – felt he should have had a penalty after appearing to be pushed from behind.

The half ended with Villarreal threatening to take a shock lead, only for Santi Cazorla’s shot to curl into the side-netting.

Former Real goalkeeper Lopez was back in action at the start of the second half to save from Van Nistelrooy, but he was beaten seven minutes in despite producing two remarkable saves.

Sergio Ramos raced half the length of the pitch before laying the ball off to Raul, whose first-time shot was superbly stopped one-handed by Lopez.

From the same attack Guti saw his close-range effort also blocked by Lopez, but just as Real looked to have been lost the chance, Robinho picked up possession before coolly slotting home his eighth league goal of the season.

Soon after that Lopez needed to produce another fine stop to keep out Julio Baptista’s 25-yard thunderbolt as Real threatened to take the game away from their visitors.

However, Villarreal were next to get on the scoresheet with Joan Capdevila stunning the home crowd by ramming home the equaliser with 15 minutes remaining.

A Senna corner was deflected towards the Real goal by Josico and Spain left-back Capdevila was unmarked in the middle to power home from six yards out.

However, Villarreal’s joy was short-lived, as Real restored their advantage just two minutes later.

A quick throw-in saw Fernando Gago pick up possession and his lofted through-ball was latched onto by substitute Wesley Sneijder, who thumped a left-footed shot past Lopez to seal the points for Real.

So we played reasonably well, and again, I apologize for missing the game and not doing a proper recap, I will have to eventually. Anyways, your reactions on the game are much appreciated, I atleast have time to respond to comments.

Also, we are supposively about to sign Tiago Luis Martins, a attacking midfielder from Santos who has been likened to Messi. Sure, I will believe it when I see it. Here is the required YouTube highlights video for everyone:

And now we are also looking to tie up u-19 international Oscar Reyes from Espanyol for the Castilla team. More solid youth reqruitment, its what i like to see.

Schuster’s Post Match Comments:

Villarreal played one of the best matches by any opponent in the Bernabéu and you managed to pick up an important win.
It wasn’t that big of a deal in my opinion. Other teams didn’t win their matches and we earned two important points over Barcelona.

Robinho, who recently turned 24, is proving how much he has matured.
Robinho is having a good season. He’s scoring and making plays. We are very happy for him.

Real Madrid played good football tonight and has the result to show for it. Is this what you wanted Real Madrid to look like when you took over?
We’re much better now, but last year there was a major change which has to be taken into account: there are new players while others decided to stay, and it takes time to make it all work. Little by little, one match at a time, including the Champions League, where learning where we stand and what our limit is. We’re building up to our potential. We have to know what we can offer and continue like this until next year.

It looks like players like Raúl and Robinho are back.
The fact that there are new players who are hungry and want to win works in their favor. Those who weren’t performing up to par are now, and that’s the future of this team.

Did you expect so much help from Barcelona?
The only team that can afford to slip up is us. The way we’re playing puts pressure on our rivals, especially after matches like tonight or last week’s derby, which at first glance looked like we might lose. That said, we haven’t given anyone a chance. We’ve played at our rhythm and rivals now believe we’re going to continue playing like this. We just have to make sure we do for many weeks to come.

Would losing La Liga be a catasrophe?
It’s not the time to comment on that. I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season. We took a major step today and earned another two points over Barcelona. We cannot relax. We’re our only rival.

Sneijer had slowed down a bit after getting off to a great start this season. Do you think tonight’s goal will help boost his confidence to continue moving forward?
Wesley didn’t start due to physical problems, but he played great in the Calderón. Wesley is in good form and has had some great matches. I’m happy about all of that, not just this goal.

Okay, so match pictures here http://www.realmadrid.com/articulo/rma46457.htm , sorry for the scrambled post. HALA MADRID!