By Le Figaro, with AFP
Published yesterday at 10:49 p.m., Updated 5 hours ago
No worries for Jude Bellingham’s Real. THOMAS COEX / AFP
Carlo Ancelotti’s men made short work of Villarreal this Sunday, during the 17th day.
Real Madrid dominated Villarreal 4-1 on Sunday and temporarily finds itself alone at the top of La Liga before the closing meeting of the 17th day which will pit Girona, 2nd by one point, against Alavés on Monday evening. The success also allows the Madrilenians, with 42 points, to widen the gap on FC Barcelona (35 pts), held in check the day before in Valencia (1-1), and Atlético Madrid (34 pts), beaten in Bilbao (2-0)
The Madrilenians did not go into detail and opened the scoring in the 25th minute by Jude Bellingham, on a brilliant pass from Luka Modric, the Englishman thus scoring his 13th goal of the season and consolidating his place as top scorer in the championship. Real quickly increased the score thanks to a goal from Rodrygo (37th), validated by the VAR.
Alaba at the infirmary
Carlo Ancelotti, the White House coach, however, had deplored just before the exit due to injury, apparently to the knee, of David Alaba in the 35th minute, further populating the Merengues infirmary. The two teams separated with a score of two goals to zero in favor of Real at half-time but Villarreal got their head back on the restart by scoring through José Luis Morales in the 54th minute.
Brahim Diaz, however, set the record straight ten minutes later (64th) by scoring following a great series of feints which deceived the Villarreal defense and its goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen. Modric crucified his opponents of the day by scoring the 4th goal for the Madrilenians less than four minutes later (68th) with a low ball.
Return of Tchouaméni
Bellingham, warned for a bad move on Ilias Akhomach, came out to the ovations of the Bernabeu public in the 78th, replaced by Dani Ceballos. French international Aurélien Tchouaméni, returning from injury, also entered to replace Toni Kroos, who has been fairly anonymous since the start of the match.
The match became tense in the final minutes, with Etienne Capoue receiving a card for a foul on Ceballos but Real could return to the locker room with the satisfaction of a job well done and a small point ahead of Girona.
