LAST MINUTE DRAMA AT THE SANTIAGO BERNABEU

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Today's fixture between Real Madrid and Villareal was a very important one considering what was at stake. I really like to see teams going at it during the last gameweeks of the various leagues. That way, we can really see the edge of their envelopes as they push themselves to the limit.

Both teams had something to fight for today. For Real Madrid, they will be looking to secure a win with hopes of securing the La Liga title. And for Villareal, they simply want a spot among the top teams to be able to make the cut for the Europa League since champions league qualification should be out of their reach at this point. This is why there was simply so much at stake here taking into account how many games there are left to play. The clock is surely ticking for them.

And although Madrid was in a much better form than their opponents, I still expected no landslide victory for them. There definitely had to be some sort of difficulty for them irrespective of them playing at home.

The first half started with some even gameplay between both sides. Villareal got some good runs towards the far end of Madrid's territory with the likes of Carlos Bacca trying to get in behind got his runs stopped by Militao. Real Madrid also some good moves by from the likes of Luka Modric as well.

But the deadlock was finally broken by Yeremi Pino who had a nice touch to the ball over the top of Thibaut Courtois to secure their lead. This wasn't looking good for Madrid but they still had time, it seems. Villareal was still pouncing on the Madrid's defense during this half but so was Madrid with some great efforts from Modric, Casemiro and Benzema. Varane was also on top of his game today too.

I really liked the fighting spirit Zidane's side kept throughout. They kept their believes and personally, I thought it was over when Benzema's goal was cancelled by VAR due to the offside call during the early stages of the second half. Also, they missed several chances and it looked as if they had run out of luck.

I thought they had really lost the game as they entered the last few minutes of the match. Real Madrid was still down by one goal leaving the score line at 0 - 1 even at the 85th minute. It was last minute drama from Benzema' s beautiful strike at the 87th minute into the top right corner and Modrid's insane strike to the top left corner in injury time.

Today, I had to lean towards a friend's notion who once told me the current form and gameplay of Real Madrid largely depends on luck and that is what I felt today. Although they fought till the end, how come they managed to secure only 4 shots on target with 2 goals that came in the last 5 minute of the game.

Highlights of the match can be seen below 👇.

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Thank you for your attention.