Real Madrid narrowly escape embarrassment against fiery Villarreal
Every so often teams from La Liga, or even from the Champions League, come to Real Madrid's stadium so awed or so plain fearful they anticipate defeat before kick-off and confine ambitions to escaping without an indecent scoreline. Sometimes, teams even come there with an attitude this is a fixture to sacrifice, to use as a rest day for their stronger players.
When Liverpool came to Madrid in November and left out several senior men, including Steven Gerrard, in a Champions League fixture, it seemed puzzling. Madrid won, though only 1-0, and the cost to a Liverpool who seemed to be prioritizing their Premier League matches either side of the midweek trip to Spain turned out high. Liverpool fell out of the competition by a narrow margin the following month.
When Villarreal, sixth in the Spanish table, arrived at the Bernabeu on Sunday with their head coach, Marcelino, having declared he would rotate his squad substantially, a similar scenario might have been expected.
As it happened, Madrid came close to being embarrassed by a Villarreal team that started without seven of what Marcelino would probably regard as his strongest XI and still drew 1-1.
The coach's reasoning was not so much defeatist, as practical. Three nights earlier, Villarreal had negotiated a Europa League second leg in Austria – they won it 3-1 – and on Wednesday they will host Barcelona in the second leg of their semi-final in the Copa del Rey. Marcelino made a calculation based on the stamina levels of his key men and the value of three competitions his club are still involved in.
At times in the last three months, Carlo Ancelotti, the Madrid head coach, has resisted making decisions based on the same criteria. He dislikes resting or rotating key players. Ancelotti stuck with his favorite XI as far as he could through the concentration of assignments that faced Madrid as they competed in La Liga and Champions League, Copa del Rey and Club World Cup through the winter months.
But symptoms of fatigue did afflict Madrid through January and February, and, as Ancelotti acknowledged, in the first half of Sunday's draw against a vibrant Villarreal. "We were slow to start with, but recovered in the second half." He thought the problem might be psychological. "If it was a physical problem we would be tiring later in the game," said the Madrid coach. "We just had some difficulties against a well-organized opponent."
What would not surprise regular watchers of Villarreal is that they provided vivid entertainment, in spite of their absent senior players. Indeed, the younger understudies seemed invigorated, fearless in the face of a resonant fixture like Real Madrid away.
Madrid ended up accumulating the higher number of chances – Ancelotti reckoned they had 24 shots, though mostly off target – but to say Villarreal escaped with a point would be to neglect the enterprise they showed, in attack and for sustained periods in defence. Villarreal scored the best goal of the game, Gerard Moreno's left-footed drive, after a neat exchange with substitute Luciano Vietto, a quick response to Madrid having taken the lead with Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty.
Ronaldo had been awarded the spot-kick in the second-half, wrestled to the ground by Eric Bailly, anticipating a cross. The Cote d'Ivoire defender's duel with La Liga's leading goalscorer – the penalty was Ronaldo's 30th league goal of the campaign, though his first at the Bernabeu in 2015 – was always compelling. Ronaldo would also see Sergio Asenjo make three capable saves - and one superb one - from his shots.
At the other end, Madrid had goalkeeper Iker Casillas and defender Dani Carvajal to thank that their evening had not started worse, or finished on the end of a shock defeat. Early on, the lively Moreno had found a way behind the Madrid defense to shoot from seven meters out. Casillas blocked the effort, and following up the loose ball, Moi Gomez had an immediate opportunity to register the game's first goal. Carvajal cleared Gomez's volley from the goal-line. Later, after Asenjo had produced his string of defiant dives, leaps and smotherings to keep out Ronaldo, Casillas needed his best reflexes to deny Vietto a late winner.
The draw thins out Madrid's lead at the top of the table from four points to two, second-placed Barcelona having won 3-1 at Granda on Saturday. Atletico Madrid also dropped points, with their goalless draw at Sevilla, and remain seven points behind Real in third. The title pursuit may have dwindled to a two-team race this weekend. The leadership of la Liga could now swing on one fixture: Barca vs. Real Madrid at Camp Nou in three weeks' time.
"We have an advantage of two points at the top, which is nothing," said Ancelotti. "But we still have to make the best of that." The two matches in between now and the trip to Camp Nou were as important as Barcelona away, he said. "I am certain this league title will only be decided on the last day of the season."
