In the Spanish La Liga, four matches of the 19th round were played on Saturday.
Madrid's "Real" club, experiencing a major crisis, once again deeply disappointed their "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium fans. Dominating the entire match and trying to score a goal, "Real" once again suffered a failure - the "submarine" team scored a winning goal right at the end of the match.
For Zinedine Zidane's club in crisis, a victory in these matches was crucial for them, but even intense pressure did not lead to a positive outcome throughout the match.
From the very beginning, the "whites" pressed their opponents. The weather conditions were extremely difficult for both teams - it was raining continuously, but the goalkeepers securely caught the balls.
Sergio Asenjo became the true hero of the match, repelling at least four shots that could have turned into goals. Cristiano Ronaldo also had several opportunities, but the Portuguese either shot inaccurately or straight into the goalkeeper's hands.
In the second half, everything essentially unfolded similarly, but the "Villarreal" players became slightly more dangerous during counterattacks.
Z. Zidane introduced Luka Vazquez and Marco Asensio into the game, but this duo did not bring much benefit, and in the 87th minute, "Real" satisfied both their stadium and themselves.
Toni Kroos made a corner kick, "Villarreal" defended and quickly launched a counterattack. Initially, Keylor Navas repelled a one-on-one shot from the remaining Turkish player, but it was not enough - the ball rebounded directly to Pablo Fornals's feet, and he bypassed the Costa Rican goalkeeper and sent the ball into the net, causing upheaval for the Spanish champions.
It seems that "Real" not only finally said goodbye to their hopes of fighting for the title but also complicated their position in the league table. "Villarreal," after this victory, reduced the gap from the "whites" to a minimum and could surpass "Real" in the standings in any round, even to the fifth or sixth position.
This is the worst season for the Real team in the La Liga since the 2005-06 season. In those years, Real also had 32 points after the same number of matches played. Interestingly, back then, after such a debacle of a season, Florentino Perez resigned from his presidential duties.
Things unfolded much more successfully for another capital team - Madrid's "Atletico" stopped "Eibar's" winning streak in an away game and secured a victory with a score of 1-0.
In the 27th minute, Kevin Gameiro scored the winning goal. "Atletico" continues to pose the biggest challenge to "Barca" - reducing the gap to the Catalans to at least 6 points.
In other matches, "Las Palmas" suffered an even greater defeat. "Girona" demolished this Gran Canaria team with a score of 6-0.
In the last match of the evening, the third-place team, "Valencia," also won three more points, surpassing "Real" by eight points now. Marcelino Garcia's team defeated Deportivo's footballers in La Coruna.
Goncalo Guedes led the "bats" forward in the first half with a goal, and Rodrigo's goal, which later proved to be decisive, as the hosts scored through Florin Andone towards the end of the match.
Results:
Real Madrid 0 - 1 Villarreal 87' [0 - 1] P. Fornals
Girona 6 - 0 Las Palmas 25' [1 - 0] C. Stuani 57' [2 - 0] M. Olunga 64' [3 - 0] B. Garcia 70' [4 - 0] M. Olunga 74' [5 - 0] Portu 79' [6 - 0] M. Olunga
Eibar 0 - 1 Atletico 27' [0 - 1] K. Gameiro
Deportivo ? - ? Valencia 37' [0 - 1] G. Guedes 64' [0 - 2] Rodrigo 88' [1 - 2] F. Andone
League Table:
