Anxiety rules the Bernabéu and Chamartín is pure nerve. This is how Jose Mourinho experiences it, energetic and protesting, running uncontrollably towards Vinicius after the Brazilian scored what seemed like the winning goal. This is how the stands experience it, with some boos for their team, some applause and many chants against the refereeing... Something of everything on a qualifying night, in spring, of a team that already plays with the noose around its neck and that holds its own, so it thinks, against everything and everyone. Madrid won against Villarreal thanks to a goal from Diomandé and Vinicius, the first substitute, was sent off for grabbing Saliba by the hair in a play.
It is the anxiety and nerves of time, with two seasons without titles in a Madrid accustomed to glory. The anxiety and nerves of the League, escaping by six points in the middle of autumn. Anxiety and nerves about the rival, watching Real Madrid fans look at a handsome, clean and well-dressed Barça. Madrid, meanwhile, anxious and erratic, analyzes itself in the mirror of its own identity. And at the moment, unfortunately, it cannot be found.
After an eternal break, Mourinho sat Vinicius down for the first time and gave the left lane to Diomandé. He also sat Cucurella, Dumfries, Bernardo Silva and Brahim, these last two touch players, of the little touch that there is right now in the white squad. There were no boos before the opening whistle, but there were during the duel.
Against a Villarreal team built on Iñigo Pérez's obsessive idea of controlling and dominating every millimeter of the pitch with the ball, Mourinho's men had a difficult time resting with the ball. They tried to be what their bodies, their virtues and defects, ask of them: fast and vertical in attack. Trent's right foot appeared there to serve the best options of the first half, but Mbappé, in the two clearest ones, did not hit the mark.
In the six, the Frenchman defined the post, with his left foot and volley, a service from Carreras after a good cross from Güler. And in the 20th, after a great assist from Trent behind the submarine's central defenders, the Frenchman cut Navarro down and, falling, found Gulacsi when he forced a shot.
From there, Villarreal controlled the match more and the match resulted in a Madrid I want and I can't. In the anxiety and, yes, the whistles that accompanied the team on the way to the locker room. Mourinho and the crowd got into a fight with the referee, Díaz de Mera, and the night lost football. A foul on Diomandé and then another on Güler enraged the stands, who chanted "Negreira continues whistling." Once again, Madrid, powerless with the ball, focused on other focuses while the League, most importantly, slipped away in October.
On the pitch, Diomandé was willing but flawed, Bellingham disappeared and Mbappé irregular. And in the center of the field, the nerve center of a team and of all of Madrid's problems, the Tchouaméni-Valverde duo once again did not work. They do not complement each other, they do not dominate with the ball or pause the game. Each of them would need another dance partner to shine. Güler tried it, aligned on the right but falling to the center out of necessity, and Mourinho read it after the break, tilting Valverde further to the right, and placing the Turk next to Tchouaméni.
It was not the only change, because in the 51st minute, soon, out of necessity, the Portuguese brought on Vinicius, with some booing from the stands but raising the public in his first play. The coach retired Trent and placed Valverde in the side for the first time this season. And it served. Vinicius had several electric plays and Valverde, with a good start, assisted Diomandé so that the Ivorian defined a cross against Gulacsi and calmed the waters.
The final stretch had everything. Mourinho saw yellow for protesting and in the 70th minute Vinicius scored the 2-0 that sealed the duel after an extraordinary start by Bellingham on the left. Collective delirium at the Bernabéu, Mourinho's run along the wing to celebrate with his prodigal son and VAR review. It turns out that the Brazilian had pulled Saliba's hair during the play. Goal disallowed, expulsion and monumental anger from the coach, the players and the public. Gerard had it in the 87th minute, the whites suffered, but won to remain six points behind the leader.
