With an exciting La Liga season drawing to a close, we bring the spotlight onto our Game of the Week for one last time.
Our final Game of the Week saw Real Madrid surrender a two goal lead away from home in a thrilling tie at Villarreal that will live long in the memory of those present at Estadio de la Cerámica.
Having tested Fernandez’s handling twice early on, Madrid took the lead on 11 minutes through a driven effort from Gareth Bale – the winger captalising on some sloppy defending to give his side the lead.
The goal marked the Welshman’s 16th in 26 appearances for Los Blancos this season, a respectable return considering the run of injuries that plagued the early months of his season.
Madrid then doubled their lead in the 32nd minute when Marcelo picked up the ball on the left-hand side of the box before finding Cristiano Ronaldo with an outrageous outside of the foot cross, who duly headed home.
The header put the Portuguese striker on 26 goals in 27 games, a record that saw him land on 115 points for the season.
Madrid appeared to be on their way to a comfortable three points at the break but were to once again fall foul of the inconsistencies that have damaged them over much of the season.
Having put pressure on young Luca Zidane’s goal for much of the second half, the Madrid defence was breached on the 70 minute mark when Roger Martinez blasted home what was his first and only goal of the season to breathe life back into the tie.
The game was then blown open just five minutes before time when Samu Castillejo sprung the Madrid offside trap before calmly rounding Luca and sliding the ball into the offside trap.
The young keeper will undoubtedly believe he could have done more in the one-on-one situation but will have been more aggrieved with the manner in which his back line switched off at such a critical moment.
The goal saw Samu end the season on six following what has been a bright campaign that has yielded 50 points.
Despite a late flurry of activity from a stung Madrid side that peaked with a fine Benzema effort that forced a fine save from Fernandez, Madrid were unable to reinstate their lead.
The draw will have been a disappointing end to the domestic campaign for a Madrid side who would have liked to have finished on a high ahead of their prestige match against Liverpool in the Champions League final.
Failure to win in Kiev could see Zidane senior’s position as head coach at the Bernabeu come under considerable threat.
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