Second place Real Madrid hosted third place Villareal at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the nation’s capital Madrid, Spain. Real Madrid trailed leaders Barcelona by 5 points going into the game so they knew they had to play their best to win this game.
The home side started out quite slowly as the visitors took the lead only 7 minutes in when New Jersey born Italian international Giuseppe Rossi sent a ball through the Real Madrid defense only to be placed into the corner of the goal past Madrid keeper Casillas by Rogerio Cani.
It took Real Madrid only three minutes to equalise after good work by Mesut Ozil leading to a give and go with Benzema and finding himself inside the 18 yard box and crossing the ball from the ground to a wide open Christiano Ronaldo who scores into an open net.
The quick tempo of the game continued when the visitors surprised the home side once again when Marco Ruben lobbed the ball beautifully over and around Casillas to regain the lead for Villareal.
It took Madrid all the way until half time to equalize again when Angel Di Maria won a free kick for Real on the left side of the 18 yard box. Spanish international Xabi Alonso took the free kick which was headed in past Villareal keeper Diego Lopez by Portuguese international Christiano Ronaldo to give himself and his team a second goal. 2-2 at the half.
The second half started off much better with Real Madrid putting immense pressure on the visitors but could not find the back of the net.
Their best chance up until the 65th minute came when Ronaldo found himself one on one with the goal keeper but hesitated to shoot the ball only because he believed he was in an offside position so he gave up the golden chance to score his 3rd goal and to give Madrid their first lead of the game.
Real Mdrid finally catch their break when Kaka crosses from the left wing to Ronaldo who shoots the ball after falling down but the ball is headed behind him however he gets up, runs to the ball and shoots in the bottom right corner of the goal. 3-2 Real Madrid
Only two minutes later, Ronaldo after getting his hat trick decided to share the wealth when he places the ball in front of Brazilian superstar Kaka who taps the ball past Diego Lopez to extend Madrid’s lead 4-2.
Villareal had two more chances to score off two separate free kicks both being rocked over the bar by Giueseppe Rossi and Borja Valero.
After missing the first four months of the season after knee surgery, Kaka returns to play his first game in front of his home crowd by scoring a goal against a team he likes playing against. Lat season he scored 3 of his goals against Villareal.
Real Madrid now sit just 2 points behind leaders Barcelona which makes it a two way race to the Spanish league title. Madrid will have the chance for revenge from the 5-0 thrashing they received at in Barcelona back in November when they have their second meeting this time in Madrid in April. Madrid are more determined than ever but Barcelona are still showing their dominance in the league especially after yesterday’s 4-0 humbling away at Deportive La Coruna.
There are still about 4 months left in the season so the excitement awaits.
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