La Liga: Real despair at home

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the La Liga match against Villarreal in Madrid on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images

Villarreal piled the pressure on under-fire Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane as they snatched a 1-0 win over the struggling La Liga champions at the Bernabeu on Saturday. Real reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey - where they will face Leganes - in midweek, but started the day 16 points behind rivals Barcelona in the league. And that massive gap remains in tact after a sublime finish from Pablo Fornals finished off an 87th-minute counter-attack from the Yellow Submarine, who had goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo to thank for a number of vital saves.

Real Madrid's Nacho Fernandez (left) and Villarreal's Pablo Fornals vie for the ball during the La Liga match in Madrid on Saturday. Pic/AFP

The visitors threatened to break the deadlock after 11 minutes when Samu Castillejo tried to find Carlos Bacca with a precise pass, only for Raphael Varane to read the danger and produce a vital interception. That prompted a prolonged spell of pressure from Real, who thought they had opened the scoring when Cristiano Ronaldo headed a Toni Kroos corner to Gareth Bale to nod home from close range, only for the Welshman to be correctly flagged for offside.

Marcelo's thunderous left-footed drive from 30 yards then drew a brilliant save from Asenjo, who was soon called into action again to tip a swerving free-kick from Ronaldo on to the crossbar. Villarreal still looked dangerous on their rare forays into the opposition half and Nacho did well to deny Bacca a clean shot on target with a well-timed block.

But Real were quick to respond in an entertaining contest and Luka Modric set Ronaldo clear on the right-hand side of the area, only for the Portuguese star to lift the ball over the onrushing Asenjo and wide of the far post. Ronaldo then saw his close-range shot brilliantly saved by Asenjo with the last action of the first half, with Mario Gaspar perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty for clipping Ronaldo as he raced onto Isco's low cross.

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