Immediate Reaction: Villarreal 0 - 4 Real Madrid; Liga F

After a boring first half, the formation change by Alberto Toril brought an exciting second half for Real Madrid, who scored 4 goals. My take on this match will be in the form of commentary from which I will draw conclusions about the game overall.

• Toril went with the standard 4-3-3 formation for this game. The difference between what’s shown on the graphic below and reality is that Feller was on the right wing and Weir was in midfield.

Grid View

• Villarreal XI
• Real Madrid XI
• Benches

• 1’: The game starts off with a typical Real Madrid throw-in in which Freja Siri gives away a freekick to Villarreal. The set-piece was also cleared by Freja inside the box. Made me realize how bad our throw-ins are generally.
• 4’: Finally after 3 minutes of struggling in our own half, we move forward through our left side with Olga making a pass to the rival’s box which was defended by Lara Mata. A minute later we counterattack with a combination between Athenea, Zornoza and Freja. Athenea makes a run and passes forwards to Esther which was too strong for the attacker to get it.
• 10’: Kenti makes a major defensive error just outside of our box which opens up a pass to Ainoa Campo who shoots it wide.
• 11’: The next minute, Feller makes a good run and completes a cross to Athenea who was in the center of the box. She shoots it just over the crossbar.
• 15’: Villarreal shouts for a penalty in our box after Kenti’s contact, but nothing is given. Kenti is having a noticeably very bad game.
• 21’: Great control to Esther who later makes a great pass to the wing to Feller who then passes to Weir who was marked by the Villarreal defense. Throw-in for us.
• 39’: And there she is! Misa does her dramatic exit of the match.
• 45+2’: The clearest chance for us so far, after an attempted cross through the ground by Feller, the ball doesn’t manage to find its way to Esther who was positioned well in front of the goal. The first half ends with this action.
• Conclusion for the first half: we kept losing the ball unnecessarily, we looked lost, it’s something we’re used to seeing against the majority of the Spanish teams.
• Halftime substitution in Real Madrid: Maite for Freja, Rocío for Kenti, and Teresa in for Feller in the beginning of the second half. This is dangerously implying that either Weir or Oroz moves to the wing. However, we finally move on to an interesting line-up with 3 at the back.
• 48’: Freekick for Villarreal, María Llompart takes it and shoots it directly, Misa has to intervene with a brilliant save. Very dangerous attempt.
• 51’: Athenea’s attempted cross ends up as a shot on target which is an easy catch for Elena de Toro, the Villarreal goalkeeper.
• 54’: What a cross by Athenea to Rocío’s head. The ball goes wide...which has happened a lot of times in this game already.
• 58’: Brilliant freekick from Villarreal which ends up as a header attempt gone slightly over our goal. Villarreal seem calm and collected in their set pieces
• 64’: Substitution in Villarreal: Martínez for Kanteh
• 64’: Esther’s brilliant pass to Athenea through the center, Athenea makes a run, tries to dribble inside the box but as she shoots her ball gets deflected and we get a corner kick.
• A minute later there’s another short corner for Real Madrid, this time a cross by Weir to Rocío’s head whose attempt de Toro barely catches at the goal line. This is the closest we’ve been to a goal this match.
• 68’ GOAL by Esther González (0:1) after a 1 on 1. Assisted by Caroline Weir. The chance started from Esther recovering the ball and immediately distributing it to Weir who passes to her through the center. Quick and straight to the point.

• 72’: Substitution in Villarreal: Estefa for Cienfu, Bicho for Campo
• 75’: Substitution in Real Madrid: Nahikari in for Esther
• 78’: GOAL by Rocío Gálvez(0:2)! Athenea’s cross from the short corner to Rocío finally goes in! It seems the team has been practicing corners in trainings lately. No more shouts for short corners to become illegal from me. Short corners are officially allowed.

• 81’: Substitution in Real Madrid: Møller in for Weir, Caroline for Caroline, to keep it balanced.
• 84’: Chance for Møller, she misses basically a sitter.
• 85’: Substitution in Villarreal: Romero for Guijarro, Sánchez for Llompart.
• 86’: Commotion in Villarreal’s box, Møller and Nahikari attempt to get the ball, the defenders send it to the corner. And from that corner...
• 87’: GOAL by Nahikari García (0:3)! Another goal coming from a short corner. Zornoza assists to Nahikari’s head who sends it in from near the penalty spot.

• 90+1’: GOAL by Nahikari García(0:4)! The first brace for Nahikari in Real Madrid. The ball comes from Maite’s pressing after which Nahikari shoots from outside the box and Nahikari send it below the crossbar. A true golazo.

• 90+4’: The match ends after a few more unclear chances. What a second half!