Gerrard Moreno’s penalty strike seals the victory for Villarreal as lacklustre Real Madrid goes down fighting.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti started an interesting lineup against Villarreal with Eder Militao replacing Dani Carvajal who’s out injured. The lineup came out as a historical one as this was the first time a Spanish player wasn’t featuring the starting XI for Real Madrid.

Real Madrid would consider themselves lucky to not concede in the first half after Villarreal had them on their heels. Quique Setien’s side dominated possession and made the most chances but lacked the finishing edge to their stride. Real Madrid mustered a few chances on their part but carried on with their goalscoring woes.

Villarreal just took two minutes into the second half to open the scoring as Ferland Mendy gave the ball away near the box to Dani  Parejo, he latched on a perfect pass to Yeremi Pino and while Mendy looked to redeem himself by blocking Pino’s shot, it diverted off him into the net.

Real Madrid equalised the scores in the 60th minute through a Karim Benzema penalty. Juan Foyth was analysed for a handball inside the box and the penalty was awarded to Real Madrid before the French striker finds the net with ease.

Just after 3 minutes of Los Blancos’s equaliser, the Yellow Submarine came forward swiftly and Foyth’s pass inadvertently found the hand of a falling David Alaba. Gerrard Moreno kept his composure and replicated Benzema’s previous penalty by sending Courtois the wrong way and the ball into the net.

Goalkeeper Courtois came forward for the corner in the last minute of added time to head an equaliser but it backlashed soon after Asensio’s miskick. Villarreal came breaking but Danjuma missed an open goal from long range.

It’s back on the drawing board for Carlo Ancelotti and his men who hope that Barcelona drop points tomorrow against rivals Atletico Madrid.