Vinicius sent off in Real Madrid win as Barcelona maintain 100% rate in La Liga

Real Madrid edged Villarreal 1-0 in their Spanish La Liga match at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

The late night fixture on Saturday was filled with tension, drama, seven yellow cards and a red card.

Real Madrid were wasteful in front of goal, chiefly Kylian Mbappe, the French striker who blazed wide with only the keeper to beat following good work from Jude Bellingham.

He also saw a shot saved, while Arda Guler blazed wide from the six yard box.

A disjointed Real Madrid continued to suffer at the hands of Villarreal after the interval and needed Thibaut COurtois to make big saves twice to maintain parity before the home side eventually took the lead on 62 minutes through their summer mega signing Yan Diomande.

The Ivory Coast winger showed awareness and composure to receive Federico Valverde’s pass in the area before arrowing a low drive into the bottom corner for the eventual winner.

Vinicius Jr., a second half substitute, thought he had doubled the lead when he converted a Jude Bellingham cutback, but a dramatic turn of events saw the Brazilian’s goal chalked off and a red card brandished to the winger for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair in the buildup to the goal.

Real Madrid, however, held on to return to winning ways, claiming three precious points that sees Jose Mourinho’s side stay third with 18 points from eight matches, six points behind league leaders Barcelona who strolled past Getafe 3-0 at the Camp Nou earlier in the day.

Anthony Gordon, Gabriel Jesus, and Jules Kounde were all on the scoresheet as the Catalans equaled their best start to a league season since 2013 with eight wins in eight matches.

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