Real Madrid risk falling further behind in La Liga after a cheeky late chip from Pablo Fornals saw Villarreal escape the Santiago Bernabeu with a shock 1-0 win on Saturday.
Fornals struck with three minutes left to leave Zinedine Zidane’s side fourth and a whopping 16 points behind runaway league leaders Barcelona, a deficit which will turn into 19 should Barca win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Here, we analyse the performance of one bright spark for the home side – Gareth Bale.
STATISTICS
Goals – 0
Assists – 0
Shots – 3
Shots on target – 0
Touches – 25
Passes – 17
Key passes – 2
Dribbles – 2
Dispossessed – 0
EFFECTIVENESS
The last time Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo played in a two up front, they tortured Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Indeed, the Wales star produced one of the finishes of this season and laid on an assist for Ronaldo while overall the performance in Dortmund was Madrid’s best this term.
Zinedine Zidane pinned his hopes on that dynamic combination baring fruit against another team in yellow as he deployed a 4-3-1-2 with Isco in behind – this time, only Bale turned up.
That his substitution in the 70th minute was met by collective jeers from the Bernabeu crowd is justification for the forward’s impact.
He dropped deep to contribute in the early attacking phases with Isco, peeled off his marker to provide an aerial threat in the box and leaned on his incisive passing ability to thread threatening balls into Ronaldo.
Bale was the fulcrum of their forward play and his somewhat surprising chemistry with Isco routinely had Villarreal’s backline in retreat.
Truthfully, the 28-year-old was the sharpest of any Madrid attacker and he didn’t appear tired when brought off in a double sub as Isco also exited.
The reality is that a wasteful Ronaldo should have been the man swapped out and ultimately Zidane paid the price for a strange switch which sucked the tempo out of Real.
Yes, there is an argument Bale’s injury record requires a degree of protection but a player of his quality shouldn’t be substituted.
Brought off: Gareth Bale
KEY MOMENTS
14th min DISALLOWED GOAL: A Toni Kroos corner from the right drops onto the head of a crowded Ronaldo but the ball pops to Bale at the backpost. However, his close-range header is flagged offside to deny Real an opener. Marginal decision.
28th min LINK-UP PLAY: Breathtaking from Bale on the counter. The Welshman is the outball on the right as Dani Carvajal clears a corner and his first touch is to cut inside his man before spreading the ball to Luka Modric with the outside of his foot. The Croatian releases Ronaldo who just has Sergio Asenjo to beat but his delicately lifted effort drifts wide.
30th min PASS TO RONALDO: Superbly weighted ball from Bale to Ronaldo and the Portuguese surges into the box but his thunderous strike from the right is narrowly wide of the post and slams into the side-netting.
35th min PENALTY SHOUT: Nice interplay between Marcelo and Kroos allows the former space to whip in a cross to the near post from the left. Bale gets in front of his man to glance a header across goal and although the connection is far from clean, the ball strikes Alvaro Gonzalez on the arm. The official waves away the appeals for a penalty, though.
43rd min SHOT: Isco glides through the middle and feeds Bale who just creeps onside outside the box. The forward turns back onto his weaker right foot but his curled effort sails wide. On his left, that likely flies in.
70th min SUBSTITUTION: Bale and Isco are brought off in a double substitution as Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio are brought on.
On the move: Gareth Bale jinks his way past Jaume Costa (L)
OUR VERDICT
Madrid’s only genuine source of threat in attack and his link-up play with Isco impressed. Ultimately, the substitutions were bizarre from Zidane and they sucked the life out of the hosts.
Perhaps if Bale had remained on the pitch the winner would have been Madrid’s rather than Villarreal’s.
7/10
YOUR VERDICT
All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com
