Here we go again. Just when it seemed the storm surrounding Real Madrid was starting to abate after a run of five consecutive victories, Rafa Benitez faces fresh waves of criticism after watching his team succumb to a third league defeat of the season.
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Roberto Soldado was Villarreal’s match-winner as Los Blancos paid the full price for an inexplicably sloppy start, leaving themselves five points behind leading pair Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Villarreal came flying out of the blocks, winning a corner after 25 seconds and hitting the post two minutes later when Cedric Bakambu made a brilliant run, including a nutmeg on Sergio Ramos, and released Jonathan Dos Santos whose rasping drive crashed against the left post.
The warning was not heeded by the visitors, and they soon fell behind when Luka Modric lost possession to Bruno Soriano deep inside his own half and Bakambu fed Soldado for a simple finish.
Madrid offered little going forward other than a good right-wing cross from Gareth Bale which Karim Benzema half-volleyed over, and they also continued to look alarmingly vulnerable at the back.
Indeed, they should have fallen further behind before the interval as the livewire Bakambu wasted two good chances, shooting wide after running onto a long ball and easily out-running Pepe, and then blazing over on the turn after a slick move down the left.
Madrid’s first half performance had been woefully inadequate, but the second half was a different story as they played with much more intensity and started to create a regular flow of chances.
Benítez: “We’re still the team with most shots on target in the league but we need to be more effective in front of goal”
— AS English (@English_AS) December 13, 2015
Bale teed up Benzema twice in the space of two minutes, but the French striker wasted both opportunities firstly by volleying wide and then clipping a very good close range chance over the bar.
Villarreal continued to look threatening when they did come forward, and Soldado drew a good low save from Keylor Navas with a 20-yard snapshot, but the hosts were becoming increasingly cautious and their lessened attacking intent allowed Madrid to push forward in greater numbers.
Benzema missed another chance by sending an unmarked header from 10 yards wide after another good delivery from Bale, before the otherwise quiet James Rodriguez twisted and turned his way to the edge of the area and drilled a rightfooted shot narrowly wide.
Madrid’s attacking efforts had grown increasingly frantic and decreasingly effective, and Villarreal comfortably held on through four minutes of stoppage time to maintain their challenge for fourth place with three valuable points.
