Villareal 0-2 Real Madrid: Second-half showing seals vital win at Estadio de la Ceramica
Just how decisive has Kylian Mbappe become for Real Madrid? It is almost now a maxim that when Los Blancos play Mbappe scores, and when he doesn’t, they falter. The Frenchman has shaken off the injury problems of the last few weeks to return to his role as the fulcrum on which Madrid turns.
His brace to send Alvaro Arbeloa’s side past a tame Villareal team and provisionally top of La Liga was his 32nd this season in 27 appearances, all competitions. That is a whopping 45% of Madrid’s goals scored this season.
His first came as Vinicius Junior skirted round Pau Navarro early in the second half, and after Pape Gueye had slipped and failed to clear the resulting cross, Mbappe was on hand to dispatch the chance past goalkeeper Luiz Junior.
The French goal-maestro just has a way of showing up in the best goalscoring positions, seemingly invisible until it is too late. World-class positioning combined with incredible accuracy makes him arguably the best goalscorer on the planet. To say nothing of his pace.
It was his pace that won Madrid a penalty in stoppage time, after he skipped past Alfonso Pedraza on the right and the Villareal captain scythed him down. The defender protested that he got a touch on the ball but the challenge was too damning. Mbappe then showed teammate Brahim Diaz how to convert from the spot with a Panenka, later caught in video footage telling the Moroccan “it was for you”, a gesture of camaraderie to help get over the pain from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Madrid started on the front foot and, despite the scarcity of clear chances throughout the game, they were the better team, all thoughts of a crisis banished. Arbeloa stood dark and cold on the sidelines but he will have been pleased with his side’s performance, after calling for the 6-1 mauling of Monaco in midweek to serve as “a turning point” for his side.
A dry first half had the promising moment when Arda Guler danced around the inside right channel, evading Alberto Moleiro and Pedraza before blasting a shot against the goalkeeper. Mbappe then tested him with a low drive from distance after combining well with Vinicius.
Villareal themselves saw a few chances go begging. Gerard Moreno failed to hit the target in the second half after Dani Parejo flighted the ball to him in the box from midfield. Then the forward missed another incredible opportunity, skying the ball from 12 yards after Parejo’s clever low pass from a freekick. Their hopes of an equaliser were already dissipating before Mbappe’s decisive blow from 12 yards.
