Real Madrid 2-0 Villarreal: Diomande and Vinicius score, Brazilian sent off
Real Madrid beat Villarreal 2-0 at the Bernabéu thanks to goals from Diomande and Vinicius Junior, who was later sent off.
- Real Madrid beat Villarreal 2-0 with goals from Diomande (63') and Vinicius Junior (71')
- Vinicius Junior was sent off in the 73rd minute after scoring
- Real Madrid are fourth with 18 points, Villarreal ninth with 8
Real Madrid 2-0 Villarreal Scorers: Diomande 63' (RM), Vinicius Junior 71' (RM)
Kick-off: 20:00 UK time / 21:00 CEST, Saturday 10 October 2026, Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid.
The match
Villarreal's Renato Veiga was booked in the 10th minute. Nine minutes later, Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham also picked up a yellow card.
At half-time, Marc Cucurella replaced Álvaro Carreras for Real Madrid. In the 52nd minute, Vinicius Junior came on for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Villarreal responded in the 56th minute with a double substitution, bringing on Carlos Romero and Nathan Saliba for Juan Foyth and Santi Comesaña.
The deadlock was broken in the 63rd minute: after a VAR review, Yan Diomande put Real Madrid ahead, assisted by Federico Valverde. Two minutes later, José Mourinho was booked.
Villarreal tried to react with changes in the 67th minute, introducing Georges Mikautadze and Gerard Moreno in place of Sergi Cardona and Ilias Akhomach. But in the 71st minute Real Madrid doubled their lead: Vinicius Junior, set up by Bellingham, scored the 2-0, confirmed after a VAR check.
Two minutes later, in the 73rd minute, Vinicius Junior was shown a straight red card. Real Madrid finished the match with ten men.
Late in the second half, Eduardo Camavinga came on in the 77th minute for Arda Güler. Bookings followed for Ibrahima Konaté (81'), Antonio Rüdiger (83') and, for Villarreal, Pau Navarro (84'). In the 86th minute there was a double change: Denzel Dumfries replaced Diomande for Real Madrid, while Nizar El Jmili came on for Alberto Moleiro at Villarreal. In stoppage time, Aurélien Tchouaméni (87') and Kylian Mbappé (90'+4) were also booked.
The numbers
Villarreal had more shots (15 to 11) and more possession (54% to 46%), but shots on target were level at 4 apiece. Real Madrid dominated the corner count (9-3) and picked up more yellow cards (5 to 2), as well as the red card to Vinicius Junior. Villarreal committed more fouls (13 to 8).
Table and next fixtures
Real Madrid move to 15 points, sitting fourth with 5 wins and 2 defeats from 7 matches. Villarreal remain ninth on 8 points, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 defeats.
Barcelona lead the table with 24 points from a perfect 8 wins in 8 games, followed by Atlético Madrid on 19 and Real Betis on 16.
Next up: Real Madrid host Sevilla on Sunday 18 October at 21:00 CEST. Villarreal play at home against Elche on Saturday 17 October at 16:15 CEST.