{"id":22740,"date":"2025-03-16T11:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T11:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22740"},"modified":"2025-03-16T11:28:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-16T11:28:44","slug":"mbappe-double-at-villarreal-takes-exhausted-real-madrid-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=22740","title":{"rendered":"Mbappe double at Villarreal takes \u2018exhausted\u2019 Real Madrid top"},"content":{"rendered":"

By AFP<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Kylian Mbappe\u2019s brace helped Real Madrid climb top of La Liga with a 2-1 win at Villarreal on Saturday despite coach Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s complaints that his team was \u201cexhausted\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Los Blancos moved three points clear of rivals Barcelona, having played two extra games, with the Catalans visiting third place Atletico Madrid on Sunday in a key clash in the Spanish title race.<\/span><\/p>\n

Madrid were unhappy the game was taking place fewer than 72 hours after their Champions League win on penalties against Atletico on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe team has something special, character, commitment,\u201d Ancelotti told reporters, insisting Madrid would refuse to play without \u201c72 hours of rest\u201d between matches as recommended by world football governing body FIFA.<\/span><\/p>\n

However despite their complaints they had enough in the tank to beat their opponents, fifth, at the Estadio de la Ceramica.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept going on a physical level, above all in the second half, the team ended up exhausted, but that was to be expected,\u201d said Ancelotti.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a win that says a lot about this team and the ability this squad has.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ancelotti began with Vinicius Junior on the bench after the draining victory against Atletico in the last 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

Villarreal started strongly and Thibaut Courtois got down well to his right to tip Ayoze Perez\u2019s shot around the post.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the resulting corner Villarreal took the lead, with the ball rebounding to Juan Foyth, who smashed home from close range.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ancelotti\u2019s side hit back quickly, with Mbappe levelling after 17 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brahim Diaz\u2019s attempted lob was saved by Diego Conde, but the French striker dispatched the rebound with minimal fuss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon Mbappe had his second, helping to spread the ball to the right and then finishing with aplomb after Lucas Vazquez found him in the middle of the box.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Mbappe\u2019s 20th league goal of the season, putting him one behind the top scorer, Barcelona\u2019s Robert Lewandowski.<\/span><\/p>\n

Content with their lead Madrid soaked up Villarreal pressure in the rest of the first half, with Courtois saving well from Nicolas Pepe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia Toral sent on Thierno Barry for Pepe at the break, as the Yellow Submarine looked to avoid a first home defeat in La Liga by Madrid since 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

Foyth might have levelled early in the second half but volleyed over the bar when well placed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018A football fan\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ancelotti sent on Vinicius and Luka Modric to try and help Madrid put the game to bed and they regained some control from the enterprising hosts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conde saved from Fede Valverde and at the other end Perez came close with a sharp turn and powerful effort which flew just over Courtois\u2019 crossbar, which was as close as his side came to a leveller.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe start wasn\u2019t the best but that\u2019s normal with little rest that it\u2019s hard on the legs, but then we came back quickly, we defended well, we were very tired but the commitment we showed was important,\u201d Courtois told Real Madrid TV.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Ancelotti and his side can sit back and watch the two teams below them duke it out at the Metropolitano stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor us it was important to win today, obviously I will watch it, because it will be a very entertaining game,\u201d said Ancelotti.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow I will be a football fan, and nothing more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier Mallorca beat Espanyol 2-1 with a late Vedat Muriqi penalty, with the target man making amends after scoring an own goal and missing another spot-kick.<\/span><\/p>\n

Celta Vigo beat bottom of the table Valladolid 1-0, inflicting their 20th defeat of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbappe\u2019s brace helped Real Madrid climb top of La Liga with a 2-1 win at Villarreal on Saturday despite coach Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s complaints that his team was \u201cexhausted\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1334,58,4720],"class_list":["post-22740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mbappe","tag-real-madrid","tag-villarreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22741,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22740\/revisions\/22741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}