Real Madrid’s stunning comeback against Villarreal

Real Madrid played Villareal in the round of 32 of Copa Del Rey 2022-23. These teams were playing second time in 10 days and as expected it was an intense match. Villareal started brilliantly and scored an early goal in the 4th minute. They doubled their lead in the 42nd minute and it was looking like they will win and cruise through to the next round but the match was not finished yet.

After half-time Real Madrid started playing better and looked to score on any chance they can get. There were several factors to their emphatic win, they had to work hard for it but it was well deserved.

Here is the analysis of the game and the reasons why Real Madrid won the game:-

1. At half-time Ancelotti woke the whole team up, and he asked them to play bold and press more. He asked Vinicius to play more centrally and look for passes to build or run behind Foyth.

2. The turning point for the game was Foyth getting injured. He was their most important player because he was asked to mark Vinicius and he did it exceptionally well. Vini couldn’t do a thing in front of him. He has been body-blocking in every way possible but the moment he got injured, Vini got free because the new right back couldn’t mark him properly.

3. The timing of substitution also played a role, once Foyth got injured Ancelotti brought Ceballos and Asensio which changed the formation of the game. He also asked Mendy to play further up to support Vini. This created an overload in midfield, when Madrid had the ball it was a 3-5-2 formation as Mendy and Valverde were playing as wingbacks with the central defense of Nacho Militao and Rudiger and when Madrid didn’t have the ball then it was a 5-4-1 formation. Now Madrid had control of the game and this change helped Vini move inside the park, resulting in the 1st and 3rd goals where Vini was running in the center of the attack. Asensio was a free man operating between midfield and attack, and he did it brilliantly.

This was a perfect match for Ceballos and Asensio to show their worth and give the directors of Madrid something to think about their renewal. Ceballos might have played their best game in his Madrid career. Real Madrid qualified for the next round and will be waiting for the draw to happen.