NOS Football•
An at times sloppy and unconvincing Real Madrid has, at least for a while, taken over the leading position in LaLiga from FC Barcelona. Real won relatively easily on Saturday evening 2-0 at Villarreal.
FC Barcelona will be in action tomorrow, at home against Real Oviedo, and can then regain first place.
Real Madrid fans have not been spoiled with the goings on at their club lately. Last week the supporters even whistled at their team in the match against Levante. The play in that match was unconvincing for a long time and that was also the case on Saturday evening.
Real coach Álvaro Arbeloa saw that his team was very sloppy in the first half. The Madrid supporters could only bounce back when Arda Güler got the ball, who had the biggest threat.
The advantage for Real was that Villarreal was not able to do anything in return. Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois did not have to deal with a shot on goal.
Applause Díaz for Gueye
So the audience had to be entertained in a different way. For example, by honoring Villarreal player and Senegalese international Pape Gueye, who scored the only goal in the African Cup final.
Real Madrid striker Brahim Díaz, who became the big schlemiel in the final by missing a penalty for Morocco with a panenka, was applauded from the bench.
In the second half Real seemed to be looking forward to it more. After just two minutes of football, Kylian Mbappé shot the 0-1 against the ropes from close range. It was already the Frenchman’s twentieth competition goal in the 21st match of the competition.
But the goal did not inspire Arbeloa’s team to greater deeds. However, another 0-2 followed. Mbappé was knocked down in the penalty area in injury time and then showed his teammate Díaz how to take a panenka.
