After the shocking home match against Levante, Real Madrid played on Saturday in another electric atmosphere: the Estadio de la Cerámica in Villarreal. Real played a solid match against a traditionally tough opponent that this time surprisingly left Courtois' gloves almost immaculate. The real fights were in the midfield, where Bellingham in particular played a great match. You could see some traces of the good old Madrid. The Blancos won 2-0 with a Mbappé brace. That guy now has scored 21 goals in 20 LaLiga appearances. Impressive!
Matchday 21: Focus on Franco Mastantuono
After more than two months, Mastantuono was again a starter in a LaLiga match. Recently back from an injury, he had previously started both the Copa del Rey match against Albacete and the Champions League match against AS Monaco. The youngster played a very good match, showing consistency and personality.
He played in the front three with Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior. He mostly played on the right wing, but during the match he also came inside, dropped back and created overload in the backline. He showed some difficulty in the 1v1 against Alfonso Pedraza.
In the second half Mastantuono still suffered Pedraza, fouled him at the edge of the box, got booked and caused a free kick. He was more effective in attacking space and creating overload in Villarreal's box on every corner kick or free kick. He also switched position with Mbappé.
Mastantuono was subbed off at minute 73 and Brahim entered the pitch. It was the first club match for Brahim after the shocking AFCON final and he had to face the Senegalese Pape Gueye again... Poor thing...
It was good to see Mastantuono back in LaLiga. Hopefully he will have consistent playtime again from now on, even if this will fuel again some competition on the right wing with Rodrygo. I hope Arbeloa will be able to find a balance between the two Madrid gems.
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Did you watch the match? Which player impressed you the most? Hit reply and let me know!
See you next Tuesday!
Marta
