Real Madrid fell farther behind LaLiga rivals FC Barcelona after a 3-2 defeat at Villarreal CF on Saturday night.
Los Blancos grabbed the lead on 16 minutes, as Pau Torres attempted to clear a cutback in the area from Vinicius Junior and ended up sliding the ball into his own net.
After three minutes, Pepe Reina made a double save, denying a low drive from Karim Benzema before smothering Rodrygo.
Minutes after the halfway mark, the Yellow Submarines made a replacement in which Manu Trigueros came off the bench to replace Ramon Terrats.
Villarreal successfully equalized five minutes before halftime when Samuel Chukwueze snuck past Nacho after receiving a pass from Giovani Lo Celso and buried the bottom-corner.
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— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) April 8, 2023
After the break, Los Blancos made a change, replacing David Alaba with Brazilian international Eder Militao as Carlo Ancelotti tried to strengthen the defense.
Two minutes after halftime, Vinicius picked up a teaser pass from Dani Ceballos, sprinted through space, and beat Reina at point-blank range to give Real the advantage yet again.
After going behind again, the Yellow Submarines didn’t give up and caught Thibaut Courtois with a looping ball, only for Yeremy Pino to break the succeeding supply.
Villarreal equalized in the last 20 minutes after Jose Luis Morales grabbed onto a cutback from Chukwueze and blasted in an attempt that was later overturned by the pitch-side review team.
With 10 minutes left, Chukwueze dipped a shoulder outside the area and curled a shot into the top corner, putting Los Blancos behind.
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— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) April 8, 2023
As the minutes passed, Madrid drew closer to scoring the equalizer, but Rodrygo was unable to direct Vinicius’ cutback into the net, putting the home team’s title hopes in risk.
