Real Madrid on Saturday suffered a 3-2 defeat by Villarreal in La Liga in a thrilling clash ahead of their UEFA Champions League showdown against Chelsea next week.
The champions remain 12 points behind leaders Barcelona, who face Girona today, with Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze scoring twice in a sensational individual display.
Pau Torres’s own-goal sent Madrid in front, but Chukwueze leveled before the break.
Photo: AP
Vinicius Junior netted a superb solo goal before Jose Luis Morales equalized again and Chukwueze curled home a superb winner, which reduced Madrid’s hopes of retaining the title to virtually nothing.
“The truth is, it was hard for us to be 100 percent motivated, that’s quite normal,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told Movistar. “If you aren’t 100 percent, you have to be better on the pitch, we weren’t organized, they manage the ball well and it was hard for us to get it back.”
However he said the defeat did not allow any doubts to creep in ahead of Chelsea’s visit in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
“We knew it could be complicated, and Wednesday is another story. Our level dipped a bit today, but on Wednesday it will be at the maximum,” he said.
The coach made six changes from the 4-0 Clasico thrashing of Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final in the middle of last week, with Europe in mind.
However he maintained his attacking trio of Karim Benzema, Rodrygo and Vinicius, looking to put the game to bed early. Marco Asensio and Vinicius combined for Madrid’s opener, with Torres deflecting the latter’s cross into his own net.
Villarreal rose to fifth, two points clear of Real Betis Balompie.
Villareal coach Quique Setien lavished praise on Chukwueze.
“For a few weeks he’s been giving us a lot, he’s a permanent threat,” the former Barcelona boss said. “Not just in goals, but in passes, chances, he’s an extraordinary player who is giving us a lot.”
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
RSS