Immediate Reaction: Real Madrid 2 - 1 Villarreal; Liga F

Win on Alfredo Di Stéfano against Villarreal. Real Madrid won 2-1 after having to do a comeback. Below are my views on the match.

Grid View

• Real Madrid XI
• Villarreal XI

With the return of Rocío, Alberto Toril decided to incorporate her back right away in a formation that hasn’t been seen for a while. With Misa on the goal, the defense consisted of Ivana, Rocío and Kathellen. In midfield there were Weir, Toletti and Maite with Olga and Athenea as wingbacks. Linda made her way in the front of the line-up together with Caroline Møller who was back into the starting line-up after a few months.

• Real Madrid failed to create any notable chances in the first 15 minutes. However, the guests managed to take advantage of that. Villarreal’s first chance went into the net as Kanteh’s ground cross from the right wing found Paola Soldevilla in front of Real’s goal who pushed it inside.
• The white club continued to struggle to create any danger in attack. Their every attempt to start an action from the wing would be stopped by Villarreal surrounding the winger before she’d get a chance to escape with the ball. This, with the combination of an array of bad decisions by Real, Villarreal had an easy time blocking all the actions.
• Around 25’ Villarreal started to infuriate Las Blancas and stuck on their half for a few minutes. For the next 20 minutes Madrid players bickered a few times with Villarreal in frustration, both in defense and in attack.
• 44’ GOAL by Caroline Weir (1:1)! Linda’s run through the middle opened up the action. She passed to the right to Athenea who went on to dribble to the middle in front of Villarreal’s box and from there made a through pass to Weir who capitalized on it.

• Real Madrid managed to equalize just before halftime. Toril made a halftime sub putting Teresa on for Maite.
• In the first 2 minutes of the second half, Tere’s impact was notable. Her carrying and through pass to Weir in 48’ ended as a shot way over.
• Without doubt, Real Madrid managed to pull their stuff together as the second half was looking much different from the first 45 minutes. Villarreal barely managed to play on Madrid’s half of the pitch.
• 57’ GOAL by Caroline Weir (2:1)! Athenea got the throw-in to Weir who passed it back to Toletti. She then made a through pass back to Weir who chipped it just over the goalkeeper.

• The game died down from this point onwards. In 72’ Møller got subbed off for Svava and the formation changed to the back 4 with Ivana as right back. Real Madrid got a few more chances but nothing noteworthy. There were a few beautiful combinations between Møller and Linda, then later on between Linda and Weir, but the tiredness of some players got the most of it. At 6 minutes to go, Esther was on for Athenea who appeared to have asked for a sub a few minutes later as her exhaustion impacted the game a lot. Rocío landed on her leg awkwardly and had to be subbed off at 86’ for Kenti. This is a big concern as this was her first game back from an injury after almost 2 months.

Las Blancas dominated the match but the match itself was too gray. Nevertheless, crucial 3 points for Real Madrid that puts them in the Champions League spot and 6 points ahead of third-placed Levante.