Real Madrid 3-0 Villarreal: 5 Talking Points

Marcelino’s Villarreal a tough nut to crack

The away side have the second best defensive record in the league for a reason. They’ve conceded just two more goals than Barcelona in the league- 29. Villarreal are a well drilled team and it took forty-one minutes for Real to score the first goal keep their title chase alive.

No team in the Top Five European Leagues has scored lesser headed goals than the Yellow Submarine this season. They’ve managed just one and a certain Frenchman decided to remind them of this statistic.

The opening goal came courtesy a Karim Benzema header who had an open goal to aim at - his twenty third in the league. But for large parts, Marcelino’s men looked at ease in the first half when defending and were successful in keeping Madrid at bay.

Cristiano Ronaldo switched positions from the wings to central areas more often than regular. The Portuguese was constantly denied space which meant he had to keep shuffling in the final third of the pitch.