Santi Cazorla found the back of the net twice against Real Madrid on Thursday night. His goals gave Villarreal a much-deserved draw at home to Madrid. Meanwhile, the draw means that Madrid are now seven points behind league leaders, Barcelona, in La Liga.
Madrid had and Villarreal had a game short of other clubs in the league as a result of the former’s participation in the Club World Cup in December. And, ideally, Real Madrid would have been looking forward to closing the gap between them and Barcelona. However, Villarreal put up a fight and earned themselves a point.
Five minutes into the game, Cazorla scored the first goal after he latched on to a pass by Samuel Chukwueze. He simply curled a shot that beat Thibaut Courtois. Although, Madrid leveled the scores two minutes later through an effort from Karim Benzema.
Real Madrid later scored again. Raphael Varane caught up with Toni Kroos’ freekick before heading the ball into Villarreal’s net. Soon enough, Madrid saw other chances to increase the margin but all were squandered. Madrid lost Gareth Bale to injury, and his absence was felt throughout the match. Villarreal were able to push back and launch attacks. They eventually equalized in the 82nd minute through Santi Cazorla’s header and sealed the game off from then.
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