Real Madrid 0 – 1 Villarreal – Match recap – how it happened
By Alex McVey
Second Half
Real Madrid began the second half as they have so many second halves this season – with about half the intensity of the first half, and looking like they’re ready to immediately concede a goal. Madrid’s midfield just seems to fold under the slightest of pressure. Had it not been for some great last-ditch defending by Varane and Nacho, Villarreal would have been much more dangerous.
Ronaldo looked increasingly peeved as the game wore on. He could not seem to find his feet in the box, and failed to get on the end of a number of dangerous opportunities. He also wasted a golden counter-attack after being played in by Isco, bungling the pass back to the center.
Zidane kept faith in Ronaldo, opting to make two substitutions at the 70th minute mark – Asensio and Vazquez on for Isco and Bale. This added a bit of pace and energy into the match, but not much in the way of quality. Madrid reverted to Route One football and started throwing cross after cross into the center, but looked simply unable to find the final ball. All of the incisive attacking that Madrid strung together in the first half evaporated, and Madrid began to look desperate.
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Villarreal didn’t need many opportunities, but they were decisive with the ones they got. In the 87th minute, Real Madrid were caught up the pitch and Keylor Navas was forced into a last-ditch save. The ball went out to Fornals who chipped it easily into the back of the net.
Real Madrid lost. Zidane’s Madrid is in a tailspin. Ronaldo looks like he has completely lost the plot. And many Madrid fans, myself included, are in a daze, wondering how the heck we got here.