LaLiga: 10-Man Real Madrid Beat Villarreal To Get Title Charge Back On Track
Yan Diomande's first goal for Real Madrid proved decisive as Los Blancos held on for a tense 1-0 victory over Villarreal, securing a vital three points despite a bizarre second-half red card for Vinicius Junior.
Real Madrid hang on for vital win over Villarreal despite late drama...
Real Madrid survived a late scare to claim a narrow win over Villarreal despite Vinicius Junior's sending off.
Yan Diomande's first goal for Real Madrid proved decisive in a crucial 1-0 victory over Villarreal, as Los Blancos held firm despite a controversial red card for Vinicius Junior to secure a fifth straight win in the head-to-head.
Having lost two of their opening seven league games in a season for the first time since 2014/15, Real went into the contest nine points behind leaders Barcelona.
Determined to begin reducing that deficit, Los Blancos flew out of the blocks against Villarreal and should have taken the lead inside seven minutes, only for talisman Kylian Mbappe to wastefully hit the post from six yards.
Buoyed by having opened the scoring in each of their last seven LaLiga home games, Real continued to threaten as the first half wore on.
Mbappe saw another promising opening denied by Peter Gulacsi after good build-up play from Trent Alexander-Arnold, while Ibrahima Konate and Arda Guler both sent efforts off target.
Booed off at the break, Los Blancos looked to raise the tempo at the start of the second half, with Jose Mourinho introducing Marc Cucurella and Vinicius from the bench.
It was the visitors who threatened first before the hour mark, however, as Alberto Moleiro drilled a shot narrowly wide and Thibaut Courtois stood firm to keep out Pape Gueye.
Those chances served as a wake-up call for Real, and the hosts soon broke the deadlock in the 64th minute when Diomande latched onto a neat pass from Federico Valverde and drilled a clinical finish into the bottom corner for his first goal since his big-money summer switch.
Lifted by the breakthrough, Los Blancos thought they had doubled their lead nine minutes later when Vinicius converted from Jude Bellingham's cut-back.
In truly remarkable circumstances, however, VAR ruled out the goal after the Brazilian was spotted pulling Nathan Saliba's hair in the build-up, with Vinicius subsequently shown a straight red card.
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| Vinicius Junior restrained by Real Madrid teammates following red card for hair-pull on Nathan Saliba |
Despite that setback, Mourinho's men passed up a golden chance to kill the game off when Mbappe was denied at close range by Gulacsi, while at the other end Georges Mikautadze shot straight at Courtois as Villarreal pushed for a late equaliser.
FT: #RealMadridVillarreal 1-0 Three points? Say less 🫡 #LALIGAEASPORTS https://t.co/T3aBc629UZ
— LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) October 10, 2026
For all the visitors' pressure, the Real rearguard held firm to seal a vital three points, stretching their unbeaten run in this fixture to seven matches (W6, D1).
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