Real Madrid’s hopes of a La Liga-record 17th straight win were dashed as Villarreal held them to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday.

Zinedine Zidane rang the changes as BBC were all in attendance but Luka Modric missed out, while Denis Cheryshev – infamously the ineligible player that expelled Los Blancos from last season’s Copa del Rey – faced his former club.

Gareth Bale quickly became an outlet at the far post as the Welshman headed the ball across Sergio Asenjo’s goal for Karim Benzema to nod home, but his effort took a slight nick off Mateo Musacchio and the goalkeeper punched clear on his line.

At the other end, Cheryshev was found by a deft backheel near the edge of Madrid’s box and subsequently forced Casilla into tipping his powerful drive over. Nicola Sansone then acrobatically volleyed the resulting corner just wide, having peeled off his marker at the far post.

Ronaldo was seemingly some way off peak fitness, and his most prominent involvement in the first half saw him tell the referee to see the bigger picture after he was obstructed by Jose Angel when a cross came in from the right. Nonetheless, the Portuguese still managed to head the ball on target, though Asenjo got his body behind it.

Marcelo pulled up with a knock and was replaced by Dani Carvajal on the stroke of half-time, followed by Villarreal squandering a glorious opportunity to take the lead as Sansone and then Cheryshev hesitated a matter of yards from Casilla’s goal.

Yet the Yellow Submarine would go into the break ahead as Sergio Ramos blocked a shot with his arms up just inside the box in a desperate bid to make up for Raphael Varane’s inability to clear his lines.

With that, Ramos conceded his third penalty of the season to make him La Liga’s worst offender after five games. Bruno then avenged his penalty miss over the weekend perfectly, the captain showing stunning bravery to chip a Panenka past Asenjo.

Madrid started the second half like a house on fire as they forced a corner, which Ramos headed past Asenjo at his near post for the equaliser. A minute later, both Victor Ruiz and the goalkeeper were frozen solid when Benzema guided a cross towards goal, but it whistled agonisingly wide.

Bale then released the overlapping Carvajal down the right, and his drilled ball across Asenjo’s goal beat the goalkeeper but rolled inches away from Ronaldo at the back post, before the Welshman bent a shot that left the custodian squirming, only for it to fly a fraction wide in his final involvement.

Toni Kroos unleashed a shot that swerved enough to almost catch out Asenjo, but the goalkeeper just about scrambled the ball into his grasp as Morata then forced the shot-stopper to tip over his header right on the goal-line.

The ball finally pinged in and around Villarreal’s box but somehow did not cross Asenjo’s line to result in Madrid dropping points for the first time in 2016-17.

Real Madrid 1-1 Villarreal

Ramos 48 (RM) Bruno pen 45 (V)

Real Madrid: Casilla; Danilo, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo (Carvajal 45); Kovacic, Kroos, James; Bale (Vazquez 72), Benzema (Morata 77), Ronaldo

Villarreal: Asenjo; Mario, Musacchio, Ruiz, J Angel; Castillejo, Trigueros, Bruno, Jonathan (N’Diaye 88); Sansone (Pato 73), Cheryshev (Soriano 64)

Referee: Gonzalez Gonzalez

La Liga - Club News