Written by Talal osman 

 

A Vinicius Jr brace and Kylian Mbappe goal ensured Real Madrid ran out comfortable 3-1 winners over Villarreal to move two points clear at the top of LaLiga.

Real’s rivals Barcelona play on Sunday against Sevilla, but for 24 hours at least Xabi Alonso’s side sit top of the pile in Spain after an efficient, if not exactly dazzling display at the Bernabeu on Saturday evening.

After a goalless first half, Vinicius Jr scored twice after the break – the second from the penalty spot – before Villarreal pulled one back through Georges Mikautadze with a fine strike.

Hopes of a Yellow Submarine fightback were dealt a blow when Santiago Mourino was sent off following a second booking, before Mbappe made the points safe late on.

Real Madrid v Villarreal

Federico Valverde returned to the starting XI as captain, after addressing reports in midweek of a fall out with Alonso.

But if those rumours threatened to cause friction in the Real camp, it did not show. The hosts began brightly, with Vinicius’ cross finding Aurelien Tchouameni in the box, but the French midfielder somehow nodded over the bar from just a yard out.

A mistake from the visitors then allowed Mbappe to cut the ball back for Franco Mastantuono, but the teenager’s his shot was blocked on the line by Renato Veiga.

Despite the hosts’ dominance, the best chance of the first period fell to the visitors when Tani Oluwaseyi was put clear through on goal.

But as he raced towards Thibaut Courtois, the Canadian lacked the required composure to finish and instead sent an effort straight into the frame of the towering Belgian.

Mastantuono then dragged a shot wide late in the half as the teams went into the break level.

But the game would not be goalless for long. Less than 90 seconds after the restart, Vinicius picked the ball up wide on the left.

The Brazilian drove into the box before jinking his way past one defender and rifling a shot that took a crucial deflection off the outstretched leg of Santi Comesana which wrong-footed Arnau Tenas in the Villarreal goal.

Just over 20 minutes later, it was two; Vinicius doubling his tally for the evening when he dispatched a penalty after going down under a reckless challenge by Rafa Marin.

Alonso’s team were cruising. Substitute Jude Bellingham exchanged a neat one-two with Vinicius before poking an effort goalwards that Tenas did well to parry.

Moments later and wildly against the run of play, Villarreal record signing Mikautadze halved the deficit with a vicious striker from the edge of the box.

But a push for an unlikely comeback from Marcelino’s men was hampered when Mourino was given his marching orders for a second yellow when he cynically brought down Vinicius.

It proved costly. Mbappe added a third with 10 minutes remaining after unselfish work from Brahim Diaz to give the result some added gloss.