Real Madrid hang on for narrow win against Villarreal despite Vinicius sending off

[p]Having lost two of their opening seven league games in a campaign for the first time since 2014/15, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real[/a] headed into the contest nine points adrift of leaders [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/barcelona/SKbpVP5K/"]Barcelona[/a].[/p][p]Keen to start clawing back that deficit, Los Blancos came flying out of the blocks against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/villarreal/lUatW5jE/"]Villarreal[/a], and the hosts should’ve taken the lead inside seven minutes, only for talisman [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mbappe-kylian/Wn6E2SED/"]Kylian Mbappe[/a] to fire wastefully against the post from six yards.[/p][p]Armed with the confidence of having opened the scoring in each of their last seven LaLiga outings on home soil, Real continued to threaten as the first half progressed.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="0f3892fb-1dc9-4ec2-bcf0-087be5f2cf15" credit-line="Flashscore" hidden-attrs="alt, credit" guid="032b57c4-7a6a-423d-8834-527f599f6b98" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Mbappe saw another promising chance thwarted by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gulacsi-peter/lYMcgOCg/"]Peter Gulacsi[/a] after good work in the build-up by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alexander-arnold-trent/CEVJy6Bc/"]Trent Alexander-Arnold[/a], while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/konate-ibrahima/QJlbDbQe/"]Ibrahima Konate[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/guler-arda/CUU9qDpb/"]Arda Guler[/a] both directed wayward efforts off target.[/p][p]Having left the field to jeers at the break, Los Blancos looked to up the ante at the start of the second period, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vinicius-junior/CbwQ4Mws/"]Jose Mourinho[/a] introducing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cucurella-marc/QTynbZd3/"]Marc Cucurella[/a] and Vinicius from the bench.[/p][p]It was the visitors who threatened before the hour mark, though, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/moleiro-alberto/b5g6gWjn/"]Alberto Moleiro[/a] powered a strike narrowly wide and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/courtois-thibaut/MVExOq3n/"]Thibaut Courtois[/a] stood firm to deny [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gueye-pape/p6rsDQvN/"]Pape Gueye[/a].[/p][p][b]Those chances proved to be a wake-up call for Real, and the hosts soon took the lead in the 64th minute when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/diomande-yan/0p2ORrJi/"]Diomande[/a] controlled a neat pass from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/valverde-federico/nscfER6B/"]Federico Valverde[/a] and drilled a clinical finish into the bottom corner for his first goal since his big-money summer move.[/b][/p][embed guid="049d042a-ce5d-4ab6-a33b-85344f673068" url="https://x.com/LaLigaEN/status/2109018216098079149" social-type="twitter" /][p]Buoyed by the breakthrough, Los Blancos thought they’d doubled their advantage nine minutes later as Vinicius converted from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bellingham-jude/QNvlPm7s/"]Jude Bellingham[/a]’s cut-back.[/p][p][b]However, in truly remarkable circumstances, VAR disallowed the goal after the Brazilian was seen to pull [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/saliba-nathan/ALAGXH2B/"]Nathan Saliba[/a]’s hair in the build-up, with Vinicius receiving a straight red card as a result.[/b][/p][image alt="Vinicius is restrained by teammates after being sent off for pulling an opponent's hair" id="db5f4943-e5ef-4900-91e8-9d5a7b30583e" credit-line="Oscar DEL POZO / AFP / AFP / Profimedia" guid="6274aedd-4410-41c3-89b2-54c654b8a482" original-width="1400" original-height="930" /][p]Despite that setback, Mourinho’s men spurned a glorious chance to put the game to bed when Mbappe was denied at close range by Gulacsi, while at the other end, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mikautadze-georges/QgN9t9CH/"]Georges Mikautadze[/a] shot straight at Courtois as Villarreal pushed for a late leveller.[/p][p]For all the visitors’ pressure, however, the Real rearguard ultimately held firm to clinch a vital three points, extending their unbeaten record in head-to-heads to seven matches (W6, D1).[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/valverde-federico/nscfER6B/"]Federico Valverde[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real Madrid[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/real-madrid-W8mj7MDD/villarreal-lUatW5jE/summary/stats/?mid=2mAGw9Ti"]Catch up on the match stats with Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]