Carvajal Suffers Injury as Real Madrid Defeat Villarreal to Extend Unbeaten La Liga Run
Spain right-back Dani Carvajal was stretchered off in tears after a painful knee injury following a collision with Yeremy Pino during Real Madrid’s victory over Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“It looks like a serious knee injury, and we’ll evaluate it in the coming hours,” said Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti. “The players are sad and concerned because it’s something we see often due to the packed schedule, and it’s happened to a very important player for us.”
Federico Valverde opened the scoring for Madrid in the 14th minute with a deflected strike into the bottom left corner, off the unfortunate Alex Baena. Villarreal came close to equalizing shortly after when Nicolas Pepe’s header clipped the crossbar, followed by Thierno Barry’s missed header over the bar.
Vinicius Junior sealed the win for Madrid with a stunning long-range shot into the top corner with 17 minutes remaining. Although Madrid had further chances, with Antonio Rudiger heading over the bar and Jude Bellingham narrowly missing from distance, the score remained 2-0.
Villarreal nearly got back into the game when Aurelien Tchouameni fouled Barry, but the potential penalty was ruled out due to an offside call. Baena’s dangerous free-kick from 25 yards grazed the side-netting as Villarreal pushed for a comeback, but Madrid’s defense held firm.
Real Madrid’s unbeaten run in La Liga now extends to 41 matches (30 wins, 11 draws), the second-best in the competition’s history, trailing only Barcelona’s 43-game streak in 2018. With this victory, Madrid sit level on points with Barcelona at the top of the table, though Barcelona could pull ahead by three points with a win against Alaves on Sunday.
