Just as Carlos Bacca was about to jump, Real Madrid center-back Nacho shoved him from behind.
Peep!
The referee immediately blew his whistle and awarded the foul against Nacho.
Villarreal had won a free-kick opportunity.
"Nacho has committed the foul," Rob Palmer announced.
"The foul is still some distance away from the penalty area," Terry Gibson noted. "Villarreal have a set piece, but it's more than thirty meters from goal. A direct shot from here doesn't seem very likely."
No sooner had Gibson finished speaking than Villarreal midfielder Manu Trigueros suddenly sent the ball into Real Madrid's penalty area.
The quality of the delivery was excellent.
The ball dropped almost perfectly onto Vicente Iborra's head.
Relying on his 190-centimeter frame, Iborra successfully gained the advantage in his aerial duel with Nacho.
He whipped his head at the ball.
It flew past Courtois' hand at high speed.
"Villarreal have scored!" Palmer shouted. "The midfielder Iborra has breached Real Madrid's goal!"
"We're only in the 10th minute, and Villarreal have taken the lead at home!" Gibson added. "It looks like the injury absences of Benzema and Ramos really have had a big impact on Madrid."
Inside the Estadio de la Cerámica, more than twenty thousand Villarreal fans began celebrating wildly.
Nothing could make Yellow Submarine supporters happier than scoring against Real Madrid.
At that moment, Iborra had become a hero in the eyes of the Villarreal fans.
From the stands, the home supporters shouted his name.
"Brilliant, Iborra! You've shown us hope of beating Madrid!"
"This is Villarreal's home! Victory is destined to belong to the Yellow Submarine!"
"Keep it up! We're going to hand Madrid their first defeat of the season!"
"Madrid look terrible! Maybe we really can create a miracle!"
"That's how you play! Don't give Madrid any room to breathe!"
After the restart, the Real Madrid players immediately launched an attack toward the opposition goal.
Clearly, going 1–0 down was unacceptable to them.
On the bench, Zidane also began to grow anxious.
He kept shouting instructions about his players' positioning, demanding that his team equalize as quickly as possible.
Five minutes later, Real Madrid put pressure on Villarreal's back line.
Out wide, Vinícius Jr. received a pass from Toni Kroos and immediately drove forward.
The players responsible for defending Vinícius were Alfonso Pedraza and Dani Parejo.
The two seemed to understand Vinícius' style very well. The moment Vinícius got moving, both defenders shifted their body weight toward his inside lane.
They did everything they could to prevent him from cutting inside.
Seeing that there was no chance to come inside, Vinícius could only cross with his right foot.
After all, Theodore Bjorn was inside the penalty area.
As long as the ball could be delivered onto Theodore's head, his aerial ability would threaten Villarreal's goal.
But the quality of Vinícius' cross was truly hard to praise.
The ball sailed straight over Theodore's head and went out over the byline.
On the global live comment feeds, Real Madrid fans immediately began criticizing Vinícius' performance after seeing that pass.
"Is that supposed to be a professional footballer's cross?"
"Vinícius did that on purpose, right?"
"Vinícius is in awful form. Might as well bring Rodrygo on instead!"
"He crossed the ball straight out of play. Vinícius doesn't deserve to start for Madrid!"
…
Five minutes later, Real Madrid's attack arrived at the penalty area again.
This time, the player receiving the ball out wide was Eden Hazard.
The man defending Hazard was Mario Gaspar. Seeing that only one defender was marking him, Hazard's confidence surged.
He did not choose to pass. Instead, he went straight for the dribble.
But the Hazard of today was no longer the Belgian king.
He had become Burger King!
Ever since arriving in Madrid, Hazard had struggled with his weight, and his body had filled out. He had already lost the pace advantage he once had in the Premier League.
Just as Hazard prepared to change direction, Mario Gaspar stretched a foot in first and knocked the ball away.
In an instant, the ball arrived at Trigueros' feet.
This was a good counterattacking chance for Villarreal.
Because Casemiro was injured, Zidane had used Toni Kroos and Modrić as the double pivot tonight.
Those two players were clearly not as defensively strong as Casemiro and Theodore.
The moment Modrić rushed in front of Trigueros, the Villarreal midfielder knocked the ball past him and darted around the other side.
Then Trigueros sent a through ball forward.
In an instant, the ball arrived at Gerard Moreno's feet.
As the owner of Villarreal's No. 7 shirt, Gerard Moreno had sharp technique. At his peak, his market value had once reached forty million euros.
On the right flank, Gerard Moreno received the ball and immediately carried it forward.
Although Real Madrid full-back Ferland Mendy had already rushed in front of him, Moreno remained extremely calm.
He picked his moment, then quickly poked the ball with his left foot, sending it through Ferland Mendy's legs.
After beating Mendy, Gerard Moreno's confidence rose sharply. He drove straight into Real Madrid's penalty area.
Fortunately, Real Madrid center-back Raphaël Varane moved across quickly to cover and cut off Gerard Moreno's route forward at the first opportunity.
In the end, Moreno's shot inside the box was blocked by the goalkeeper.
Villarreal won a corner.
Trigueros' corner once again looked for Iborra, but this time the player marking Iborra had been changed to Theodore.
As the strongest aerial presence in Real Madrid's lineup, Theodore gave Iborra no chance.
He got there first and headed the ball clear.
The second ball was controlled by Ødegaard.
The Norwegian wonderkid suddenly turned and successfully shook off Parejo's defending. This was a counterattacking chance for Real Madrid.
Ødegaard strode forward with the ball. Although his explosiveness was not as high as Theodore's or Vinícius', it was more than enough to deal with Villarreal's defenders.
Facing pressure from Mario Gaspar, Ødegaard pushed the ball forward and ran past his man.
A few seconds later, Ødegaard had carried the ball into Villarreal's half.
At the same time, Theodore and Vinícius were already charging toward Villarreal's penalty area.
Ødegaard did not hesitate. He decisively sent the ball into the box!
The ball dropped right into the space between the goalkeeper and the defender, and at that exact moment, Theodore Bjorn arrived at full speed!
Bang!
Theodore did not waste Ødegaard's delivery.
He launched himself into the air, used the power in his core, and snapped his head toward the ball.
The header smashed heavily into Villarreal's goal.
"Theodoreeeeeeeee!" Palmer announced. "A headed goal from him! Real Madrid have equalized at the Estadio de la Cerámica! One-one!"
Gibson added, "At the moment Real Madrid needed a goal most, Theodore stepped up!"
After scoring, Theodore did not celebrate.
Instead, he immediately went into Villarreal's goal, picked up the ball he had just put into the net, and ran toward the center circle.
A 1–1 scoreline was not acceptable for Real Madrid.
As the dominant force in La Liga, Madrid wanted to beat Villarreal tonight.
On the bench, Benzema, who was unavailable through injury, applauded Theodore.
Then he turned to Casemiro beside him and sighed.
"Theo's heading is seriously dangerous. Looks like I need to hurry back, otherwise he might take my position."
When Casemiro heard that, his expression turned a little awkward.
He quietly said to Benzema, "Honestly, Theo really is too strong. He's top class no matter where he plays… and he already took my position a long time ago."
Casemiro was not wrong.
Ever since Theodore joined Real Madrid, Casemiro had gone from a nailed-on starter to a substitute almost overnight.
After Madrid equalized, the broadcast camera cut to Villarreal head coach Unai Emery.
There was no visible change in Emery's expression, as if he had already expected Theodore to breach Villarreal's goal.
Before the match, Emery had prepared specific defensive plans for Theodore, but most of those instructions were aimed at dealing with him in midfield.
Tonight, however, Theodore had appeared on the forward line.
That meant all those previous plans had turned into nothing.
At the same time, Emery knew very clearly that if Theodore played as a center-forward, he would pose an enormous threat to Villarreal's goal.
As long as Theodore received the ball inside the box, he had more than enough quality to score.
Reality proved Emery's worries were justified.
Theodore's heading ability was even stronger than that of Real Madrid's regular center-forward, Benzema.
After the restart, Emery did not order the Yellow Submarine to sit deep and defend. Instead, he told them to attack.
Emery understood very well that pure defending would never bring victory.
Only by attacking with everything they had could Villarreal possibly take points from Madrid.
As for Real Madrid, playing away from home, they were just as unwilling to accept a 1–1 scoreline.
During the final ten minutes of the first half, both sides played very open football.
For Villarreal, the attacking core was still Trigueros.
In the 40th minute, when the ball arrived at Trigueros' feet, he did not dwell on it.
Instead, he quickly moved it out wide to Gerard Moreno.
Looking at his performance tonight, Gerard Moreno had been excellent.
Every time he received the ball, he seemed capable of threatening Real Madrid's goal. In a sense, Gerard Moreno was Villarreal's version of Theodore.
Once again, he was on his familiar right flank.
After receiving the ball, Gerard Moreno glanced toward the penalty area.
The next second, he immediately delivered a pass. Moreno's technique was extremely sharp, and the ball flew accurately toward the middle of the box.
The moment Moreno released the ball, midfielder Iborra had already charged into Real Madrid's penalty area.
This time, Moreno's target was Iborra.
Iborra had already scored for Villarreal early in the match, and his heading ability was outstanding.
Once again, Iborra won the first contact in the air.
Real Madrid center-back Nacho was no match for him at all. He was simply knocked aside by Iborra.
The Villarreal midfielder immediately snapped his head toward goal.
At the crucial moment, Courtois stepped up
. Just as the ball was about to cross the line, the Belgian goalkeeper used his right hand to push it away.
"A world-class save!" Palmer shouted. "Courtois! That save showed exactly why he is a top-level goalkeeper!"
"Iborra got real power behind that header," Gibson added. "The ball nearly flew into Madrid's goal. But at the key moment, Courtois pushed it out with one hand!"
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