Stumbling champions, Real Madrid, slumped to a second defeat in three La Liga games by losing 1-0 to Villarreal as their hapless title defence continued on Saturday at a sparsely attended Santiago Bernabeu.
Zinedine Zidane’s side dominated the game but succumbed to an 87th-minute strike from Pablo Fornals, who chipped over goalkeeper Keylor Navas on the rebound after a lightning-quick counterattack, giving Villarreal their first ever win at the Bernabeu in 19 visits in all competitions.
Real remain fourth in the Liga standings on 32 points and are only one point and one place above Villarreal.
They could be a gaping 19 points behind runaway leaders Barcelona if Ernesto Valverde’s side beat Real Sociedad on Sunday.
“We don’t deserve this, we think we played well but the ball just didn’t want to go in for us and I cannot explain why,” Zidane told reporters.
“We then couldn’t prevent them counter attacking us and it’s really tough on the players.”
Real’s slim chances of getting back into the title race after their 3-0 defeat by Barcelona before Christmas had faded further with last week’s 2-2 draw away to Celta Vigo and, coupled with the persistent rain, there was little enthusiasm for the game at the Bernabeu, which was three-quarters full.
