Real Madrid clawed back wins 3-2 over Villareal, keeps La Liga lead

Villarreal 2-3 Real Madrid: Last gasp Alvaro Morata header keeps Los Blancos top of La Liga

Real Madrid scored three goals in 19 minutes to over-turn a 2-0 deficit against Villarreal and go back to the top of La Liga.

Barcelona had overtaken them in their afternoon kick-off against Atletico Madrid but Barça’s gain was wiped out just five hours later by a Real Madrid team who dozed through the first hour of this match, conceding twice, but still won with Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata all scoring.

Manu Trigueros scored the first goal of the game on 50 minutes and it was no more than Villarreal deserved.

Samu Castillejos is a featherweight forward but he still overpowered Marcelo at the back post to head down towards Tirgueros who lashed his shot past Keylor Navas before Sergio Ramos – who was the closest defender to him – could react.

Madrid fans might have thought it would be a wake-up call but Zinedine Zidanes’s side kept on snoozing and when Bruno threaded the ball through to Cedric Bakumbu he ran clear of Ramos and curled his shot around Navas and inside the post to make it 2-0.

Zidane sent on Isco and he got Madrid moving down the right in a move that ended with a Bale cross and a Ronaldo volley that came back off the post – a reaction at last, but would it be too late?

It was September, 14 2013 when Bale scored on his debut on this ground. He’s won two Champions League since and they’ve changed the name of the Stadium but just as with three years ago he converted from close range for his team – this time powering Dani Carvajal’s cross with a fine header.

Then came a moment of controversy, and the equaliser. Bruno handled in the area but it looked completely unintentional as the ball bounced off a team-mate in a crowded penalty box.

La Liga rule changes at the start of the season made it clear that if the ball hits a player having cannoned off another player then it's not a penalty. Fran Escriba was furious on the bench and the Villarreal coach was sent off before Ronaldo slammed in the spot-kick – his 57th penalty in the league. No one has scored more in the history of the competition.

Villarreal looked broken. They had worked so hard to get two goals in front but then frozen at the prospect of beating Real Madrid.

They were in Europa League action in midweek but rested the entire team because they were already all-but out of the competition at the hands of Roma, so there was no real excuse. Now they were playing if they had all walked back from Rome.

Madrid in contrast were full of life and pushed for the winner.

It came on 83 minutes when Isco and Toni Kroos won the ball in midfield, Marcelo charged down the left and crossed for substitute Alvaro Morata to nod past Aitor Fernandez.

The substitute goalkeeper could have done better, allowing the ball to squirm under his dive on the line. This game might have gone differently had Villarreal not lost keeper Sergio Asenjo in the first half.

No goalkeeper has conceded fewer goals in the Spanish first division this season coming into the game but Asenjo is also the most injury-prone keeper in Spain and he needed treatment after making a fine block from a Benzema chance.

At first he looked fit to carry on but the keeper went to ground again moments later and had to be replaced ten minutes before the break. Three torn cruciate ligament injuries in his career have made the Spain international more cautious than most keepers and he was taken to hospital for tests with Fernandez coming on.

With Fernandez on Villarreal still got themselves two goals in front but it was like poking the beast with a stick. Madrid reacted and with three second half goals turned the game on its head and moved back to the top of La Liga.

Almería 0, Villarreal 0: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Sevilla…

Andalusian sides continue to trouble Villarreal, as Almería takes a point and probably deserves more at Estadio Juegos Mediterráneos. This time Marcelino’s backups failed to deliver the result, with Tomás Pina coming closest for the visitors after both sides had a man sent off.

An  ugly match in the Asian time slot on Sunday afternoon, as is often the case. A poor performance from Villarreal in Andalucía, as is often the case. And a chance wasted to recover from Thursday's European setback.

With card-crazy Undiano Mallenco misguidedly at the helm of a relatively clean match,Almería's Mauro dos Santos saw a straight red card for a last-man WWE takedown of Giovani dos Santos. Villarreal then anticipated 50 minutes to press for a winner, but captain Jaume Costa committed a second bookable offense on rojiblanco winger Wellington Silva - the on-loan Arsenal man was a constant menace. The hosts looked more likely to take all three points on the day, with Tomer Hemed putting over with only a defender to beat, but the scoreboard failed to operate.

Three takeaways from a disappointing jornada 27:

1.      Tired legs for the Yellow Submarine. Villarreal has purportedly played the most matches in Europe since the start of 2015. And it has shown in the last few weeks, even with the extensive squad rotations by manager Marcelino García Toral. Much of today's XI did not feature against Sevilla on Thursday evening, but perhaps unfamiliarity resulted in yet another slow start. Not the ideal mix against a desperate team in the face of an expected late-game swoon.

2.      Spanish referees are...special. The cardinal rule of officiating: don't become the focal point of the match. And yet Spanish international Alberto Undiano Mallenco has violated this tenet time and again. Today's match was no different - ten yellow and two red cards awarded for 31 total fouls. Not that either dismissal was unwarranted given the circumstances, but Costa's first yellow was rather soft, as were many other bookings that conditioned the contest. Chechu Dorado, Tomás Pina, and Antonio Rukavina were also cautioned among the Yellow Submarine's defensive nucleus.

3.      The Champions League is falling out of reach. With only eleven matches left in the season, Villarreal now trails fourth-place Atlético Madrid by seven points, and third-place Valencia is a further point ahead. And Sevilla can pull three points clear of the Yellow Submarine with a home win over Elche later today, not to mention thenervionenses' high probability to advance to the Europa League quarterfinals. A top-four finish was never likely, but with the European setback on Thursday, this writer would have liked a stronger effort from a more full-strength team in Almería. But not to be.

On to the Sánchez Pizjuán for Thursday night's Europa League round of 16 return leg. Villarreal needs three goals to start the conversation about a comeback. It's extremely long odds, but at least the top guns are rested for the charge. Nothing to lose.

Villareal stuns Atletico Madrid 1-0

Atletico Madrid 0-1 Villarreal: Late strike from Luciano Vietto sinks Diego Simeone's side at the Vicente Calderon

Atletico Madrid were beaten at home to Villarreal on Sunday with an 85th minute strike from Luciano Vietto.

The 21-year-old striker broke past Diego Godin and placed the ball beyond Miguel Angel Moya sixminutes from time in a game that Diego Simeone's side struggled to get a grip of.

The result means the defending La Liga champions were unable to capitalise upon Barcelona's goalless draw with Getafe on Saturday.

A win would have seen Diego Simeone's side go level with Barca in second place, but the visitors produced an organised display to pull off the shock victory.

Villarreal were denied a penalty in the first half when Gabi appeared to nudge the ball out of the way of Ikechukwu Uche on the stroke of half time with his arm.

In truth Atletico had the better of the chances, but Villareal denied them too many clear-cut opportunities during a lack-lustre first half.

And the visitors began the second half spiritedly, as the lively Vietto ran at Atletico's defence on 52 minutes and shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area.

Mario Mandzukic then had a header ruled out for an innocuous challenge on defender Mario as Atletico looked to hit back at Villarreal's pressure.

But it was the visitors who stole victory when Vietto beat Godin and finished stylishly to secure the three points. 

Villareal deals Levante a home loss 2-0

Giovanni Dos Santos

ESPN UK Football 

Ikechukwu Uche and Denis Cheryshev were on-target as Villarreal began their Primera Division campaign with an impressive 2-0 win at Levante.

Cheryshev, who is on loan with the Yellow Submarine for the season from Real Madrid, struck five minutes from time to give the visitors an ideal start to their campaign.

Nigerian international Ikechukwu Uche had earlier broken the deadlock in the 55th minute in a match that had had precious few chances up until that point.

Marcelino Garcia Toral's men had made light work in a 3-0 away win over Astana in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie but they found Levante harder to break down.

Giovani dos Santos' curling strike from just outside the area went over while he struck wide from close range following a good cross from Cheryshev.

Former Tottenham midfielder Dos Santos was in the thick of the action once again, but once again he failed to find the target after firing wide from the edge of the box.

Levante had offered very little going forward in the first half although after the interval they did test visiting goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, who was equal to Victor Casadesus' drilled effort from 20 yards.

From out of nowhere, though, Villarreal opened the scoring as Uche slotted home from close range following Cani's pass on the right.

Dos Santos then spurned another chance to double Villarreal's lead after he hit a post on the follow-up to Cheryshev's shot being saved by Levante goalkeeper Jesus Fernandez.

Fernandez then easily saved Cheryshev's wild shot from distance although there was nothing he could do with the Russian's close range finish from Moi Gomez's right-wing cross.

Levante valiantly went on the offensive in the closing stages - with Rafael Martins missing the target from a decent position and Casadesus heading against a post in injury time - but it was to no avail as their opponents held on.

Aduritz saves Bilbao from Villareal 1-1

Ariz Aduritz

Yahoo UK Sports

Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo saved Aritz Aduriz's 40th-minute penalty at the Madrigal before teenager Oliver Torres slipped the ball across goal for Tomas Pina to fire the home side ahead two minutes into the second half.

The match turned when Villarreal defender Gabriel earned a second yellow card and was sent off in the 66th minute and Aduriz atoned for his penalty miss with a fine headed equaliser seven minutes from time. With 10 games left, Bilbao have 52 points in fourth, six ahead of Basque rivals Real Sociedad, who are fifth on 46 points thanks to Sunday's 1-0 win at home to Valencia.

Promoted Villarreal, who have impressed on their return to the top flight, have 45 points in sixth, one ahead of seventh-placed Sevilla.

"The penalty was a bit of a blow but we managed to regroup after their goal and get the draw," Aduriz said.

"We started to dominate towards the end and we are more or less satisfied. There is still a long way to go and we have to take things step by step."

Villarreal midfielder Torres, on loan from Atletico Madrid, said: "The penalty save gave us a bit of a boost and we came out strongly in the second half. We managed to get ahead on the scoreboard but the sending off changed things and you really notice when you have a man less against such a good team," added the 19-year-old. "We got a point but we are disappointed because we wanted the win."

Real Madrid are three clear at the top on 70 points after they won 1-0 at Malaga on Saturday.

Atletico Madrid are second on 67 thanks to their 1-0 success at home to Espanyol and champions Barcelona, who play at Real on Sunday in the Clasico, are a point further back in third after they thrashed Osasuna 7-0 on Sunday.

Neymar's double lifted Barcelona over Villareal 2-1

A very relieved Barcelona overcome a tough Villareal side to eke out a slim 2-1 victory.  Barcelona started the game again without Lionel Messi, Danny Alves and Adriano Correa.  Without their superstar, Gerardo Martino fielded Cesc Fabregas in his stead with Alexis Sanchez and Neymar Da Silva as wingmen.

Both teams find little chances in the early goings. But Barcelona was poised to take the lead but Alex Song's shot hit the near post denying the host the opening goal.  The break came in the 28^th minute when Jordi Alba's cross hit the hands of Mario in the penalty box. That set up the first Neymar goal to give Barcelona the lead before the break.

In the 48^th minute, Villareal evened up after Mateo Mussachio beat Marc Bartra to squeeze a bullet header from a Mario Trigueros corner kick.  Barcelona tried to  shake off the shock with that score but finds Villareal defense impenetrable. 

Things went differently when Xavi replaced Alex Song in the middle of the second half.  Just as Barca seems headed to another draw and split points with its visitors, Cesc Fabregas curled a cross near the back post which was chested by Alexis Sanchez who set up for a fine Neymar tap in to the relief of the anxious crowd. Barcelona protected the lead until the final whistle for that important three points.

Had Barcelona settled for a draw it could have given up the overall lead in the league as it is already tied up with Atletico Madrid.  It could have also ring alarm bells already as Barcelona has been suffering two straight losses. In the last round, it lost to Athletic Bilbao. Previous to that, it lost its  second round outing with the Dutch side Ajax in the Champion's League.  

Villareal trounce Valencia 4-1

Giovanni dos Santos scores
 double for Villareal 

Villareal dominated Valencia with a 4-1 win at El Madrigal.  Villareal continues to send notice to the rest of La Liga that they are returning with a vengeance after being relegated two years ago. 

Villareal jumpstart early as Ikechukwu Uche nodded Giovanni Dos Santos cross past Vicente Guaita in the 17th minute. Five minutes later, Villareal added another goal when Hernan Perez heads Cani's lob from the left. 

Valencia tried to score in the 37th and the 39th minute when both Dorado Pabon and Joao Perreira failed to complete their attempts respectively.  

Villareal added another goal in second half but in some kind of a twist of fate.  Valencia defender Jeremy Mathieu fouled Ikechukwu Uche to set up a Giovanni dos Santos penalty.  However, Vicente Guaita tipped Giovanni's penalty to set up a corner.  Cani's corner was headed by Uche in the ensuing play and the rebound went to Giovanni who back heeled the shot and score his first goal.  Giovanni Dos Santos later completed his productive night with 25 yard curl against Ricardo Costa from a pass by Bruno in the 84th minute.  

Valencia however had a consolation goal in the 62nd minute when Ricardo Costa headed  an inswinging corner from Dani Parejo. 

Villareal claims top spot in La Liga 2013-2014

It's developing into a Cinderella story.

Villareal, the team relegated a year ago, found itself on top of La Liga by dominating Osasuna 3-0 in El Sadar.  The win is its third as in many starts, previously beating UD Almeria and Villadolid.   The goals came in 22nd minute as Jeremy Perbet scored from a cross.   It did not take long for the Yellow Submarine to score the second goal as it came in the 30th minute as Bruno Soriano got tangled in the middle of the penalty box only for Javier Aquino to pick up and send home the ball to an empty net. 

Villareal ended the night with a brilliant finish.  Javier Aquino broke away at midfield then pass it on to Giovanni di Santos who delivered a cross to a surging Ichechukwu Uche for a smooth tap in. 

Villareal is now on top of the La Liga standing with 9 points, 3 points ahead of defending champion Barcelona.  That could change however if Barcelona can score a victory against Valencia on September 1.  Villareal will find its real test as it will tangle against heavyweight Real Madrid on September 14 on its home ground at El Madrigal.