In Spain they don’t talk about anything else. Presenting an eleven without players of Spanish descent for the first time in nearly 121 years of history, Real Madrid were eventually beaten 2–1 by Villarreal to miss Barcelona in the Championship lead. In game 4436 of history Meringue, coach Carlo Ancelotti chose the following starting line-up: Courtois, Militão, Rudiger, Alaba and Mendy, Modric, Tchouaméni, Kroos and Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius Jr. That is, three Frenchmen. two Brazilians, two Germans, a Belgian, a Croat, an Austrian and a Uruguayan. The Spaniards Lucas Vázquez and Marco Asensio were released in the second half.
The match of the 16th round of the Spanish football league was also marked by two penalty kicks in the space of three minutes. After a clean sheet at half-time, Villarreal opened the scoring in the 47th minute, through Yeremy Pino, after assisting Gerard Moreno, who made it 2-1 in the 63rd minute, via a penalty, shortly after France’s Karim Benzema had equalized . at 60, the same way.
The Spanish champions remained in second place, level on points with Barcelona, but sees the Catalan rival isolate himself when he scores at fourth-placed Atlético de Madrid’s stadium on Sunday, which was matched by fifth-classified Villarreal.
Real came back from the break asleep and Villarreal scored the first
@La Liga | @VillarrealCF 1×0 @Real Madrid
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A misplaced pass from Frenchman Ferland Mendy led to the opening goal for the hosts, but Real Madrid managed to restore the tie, thanks to Benzema’s eighth goal of the competition, after a hand in the area, as unnecessary as it was involuntary by Foyth.
Ballon d’Or to tie the game
@La Liga | @VillarrealCF 1×1 @Real Madrid
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The team from the Spanish capital met the flip side of the coin soon after, when the Austrian Alaba slid into his area, put his hand on the ground to support himself and, when he raised it, saw the ball hit his arm and the referee’s maximum signal punishment, performed by Gerard Moreno.
No time to lose Villarreal up front again ♂️
@La Liga | @VillarrealCF 2×1 @Real Madrid
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Villarreal could have doubled their lead at the final hurdle of the match, when Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois entered the hosts’ penalty area after a corner kick, but Dutchman Danjuma shot wide, with an empty net, following the quick counter-attack.
Source: DN
