Real sunk by Yellow torpedo
66 Sunday Mail
Real Madrid’s miserable La Liga season continued as they crashed to a 1- 0 defeat against Villarreal at the Bernabeu.
Zinedine Zidane’s side started the day in fourth – 16 points behind leaders Barcelona.
And Barca can stretch that lead to 19 away to Real Sociedad tonight after Pablo Fornals grabbed a late winner for the Yellow Submarine.
He finished off a counter-attack three minutes from time after Villarreal keeper Sergio Asenjo had frustrated Real.
Gareth Bale saw his header correctly ruled out for offside before Asenjo saved superbly from Marcelo’s thunderous drive and Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick.
He denied Ronaldo again from close range then made a number of saves in the second period before Villarreal cleared a late Real corner and set Denis Cheryshev clear down the left.
He found Enes Unal in the box and although the striker’s shot was blocked by Keylor Navas, it landed for Fornals to chip a first- time effort over the despairing keeper.
Under-pressure Zidane blamed bad luck on the latest disaster and said: “It is hard to explain. We tried everything. We had clear chances but the ball would not go in.
“There is no explanation. This is a bad run that won’t stop and it is not good for my players. I can’t criticise them.
“It might be a mental aspect that is stopping us from winning. When we are on a bad run there are always negatives to pick up on. We must keep plugging away.”
Atletico Madrid cut Barcelona’s lead at the top to six points with a 1- 0 win at Eibar.
Kevin Gameiro pounced for the opener midway through the first half and Eibar couldn’t find a way past Diego Simeone’s defence.
Girona thrashed bottom club Las Palmas 6- 0 with Michael Olunga scoring a hat-trick.
The Kenya striker struck in the 57th, 70th and 79th minutes to become the first player to record a top-flight treble for Girona.
Cristian Stuani with a penalty, Borja Garcia and Cristian Portu were the other scorers.
In Germany, Schalke fell further adrift of leaders Bayern Munich as they crashed 3-1 at RB Leipzig.
After watching Bayern win 3-1 at Leverkusen on Friday night, second-placed Schalke knew they needed to win.
But goals from Naby Keita, Timo Werner and Bruma sealed a big victory for Leipzig who move above Leverkusen into fourth.