Real Madrid vs. Villarreal 2015: Final score 1-1, Yellow Submarine earn hard-fought draw

With a heavily rotated lineup and tired legs from a midweek Europa League match, no one really expected Villarreal to do much against Real Madrid in this game. Apparently no one told them that, because they came out and played some inspired football en route to an incredibly entertaining 1-1 draw.

The match started out with some fun football, chances flowing for both sides. Villarreal weren’t cowed at all by the atmosphere of the Santiago Bernabeu, and surged forward with reckless abandon on every possession, with Gio Dos Santos and Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell combining well to give Real Madrid’s defense problems. Indeed, the first truly dangerous shots of the match belonged to the visitors, with Moi Gomez and Gerard Moreno getting two shots on frame in quick succession, the second of which required a desperate goal-line clearance from Dani Carvajal.

Once the match started to get past the frenetic start and slow down a little, Real were able to assert more and more control over the run of play. They had a hard time breaking down Villarreal’s disciplined 4-4-2, with their two banks of four getting back and cutting off space very well before launching forward on the counter when they won the ball back. Isco and Marcelo were probably the better players in the early going for Real, with their direct running and skill on the ball coming in handy.

Villarreal may have struggled to keep any kind of possession, but they did two things very well when Real had the ball: they kept Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale from cutting inside at will, and they starved Karim Benzema of decent service. Those are the two big things Real’s opponents have to do, especially in Madrid, but few ever pull it off for long stretches of the match like Villarreal did in the first half.

Sadly, that success didn’t last long in to the second half. Real were able to start getting numbers into the box and Villarreal paid for it when Ronaldo was able to isolate on Eric Bailly, who had taken a knock in the first half, and induce a foul from the defender to earn a penalty. He put the try away with his trademark ease, and Villarreal were left with a mountain to climb.

And climb it they did.

It took 12 minutes of cagey, careful football, but Villarreal finally found themselves a breakthrough. As they had all match long, they surged forward on a counter attack, this time after a poor pass from Lucas Silva, and Moreno found himself at the top of the box with a loose ball running onto his left foot. The 22-year-old took one swing and equalized, scoring his fourth league goal of the season and 13th in all competitions. It was a well-fought effort, and came shortly after a double change to bring on the ever-dangerous Luciano Vietto and the midfield solidarity offered by Manu Trigueros.

Real pushed hard to try to re-take the lead, but their first chances came to naught. The best of them was Ronaldo’s close-range effort just two minutes later, but Sergio Asenjo took the ball basically off Ronaldo’s foot, then five minutes later parried away a bullet header from the same man, as Ronaldo tried to put his team on his back to win the three points on his own.

It was actually Villarreal who got the next great chance, when Vietto got set free over the top by a ball from sub Jonathan dos Santos. The Argentine striker lost his footing and went down at the edge of the area, however, allowing Iker Casillas to scoop up the ball with ease while Vietto laid flat on his back, holding his head in shame.

The two kept trading blows, with Real making progressively more attacking substitutions, but Asenjo and Villarreal’s defense were up to the task of keeping Madrid’s attack at bay. Vietto nearly scored with a diving header, but his effort was just barely saved by Casillas. Moments later, Madrid striker Chicharito went flying and sliding through Villarreal’s penalty area after getting tapped by Bailly, but wasn’t awarded the penalty he was seeking.

Real had one last chance in the dying minutes, but Ronaldo’s glanced header off a Marcelo cross went sailing over the crossbar, leaving the star shaking his head in bemused frustration. Ronaldo certainly had his chances in the second half, but between some inspired goalkeeping from Asenjo and just plain bad luck, he couldn’t convert any of them save his penalty.

It was an inspired performance from Villarreal, playing incredible football all match long. In some ways, they’ll feel unlucky not to have won, especially with the two missed chances for Vietto in the last 10 minutes of the match. Madrid won’t enjoy the result as it means their lead over Barcelona atop the table is now at just two points, which is not an ideal position for them to be in with a tough stretch of schedule coming up, including a Classico in Barcelona. Villarreal just made La Liga a lot more interesting.

Goal: Ronaldo (pen.) 52’

Goal: Moreno 64’