In one of the two central matches of the 9th round of La Liga, Villarreal took Real Madrid, once again claiming to fight for the championship. Diego Simeone could not count on the services of several important performers at once, Diego Costa and Savic were injured, and Godin remained on the bench. In the debut of the duel, the teams looked at each other, playing on an equal footing, and then the hosts took over the game and territorial advantage, occupying the other half of the field..

The “yellow submarine” repeatedly opened up the opponent’s defenses, but it lacked only the final shot on goal, most often the fault was Juanfran, who was repeatedly ahead of his opponents and did not allow them to strike. Over time, the guests reassured the game and withdrew the threat from their gates, sometimes punched at others, but their shots did not carry the threat of the share of Asenkho, who did not have to save his team. But the wards of Kalhekhi had a good opportunity to score closer to the end of the first half - Fornals connected Kosta to the attack, which struck in touch, the ball hit Jimenez’s leg on the way and went under the crossbar, but Oblak was on the alert and turned the ball to the corner. Before leaving for the break, the teams failed to open the score and went to the locker rooms with “zeros.” The second half of the meeting turned out to be more fun than the first, immediately after resuming the game, the teams took turns attacking, playing without center field, Atletico was more successful in his endeavors. scored a quick goal - in the 51st minute, the guests earned a free-kick, after filing which Funes Mori punched at his goal, Asenho and the crossbar prevented the ball from flying into the goal, but he flew straight to Philip Luis, but the Brazilian sent the ball into the net - 0 :one. After a missed goal, Villarreal took the ball under control completely and a bit later had a brilliant opportunity to restore parity, but Moreno was unable to realize a one-on-one exit with the Cloud..

Calleja decided to step up his team's game and back in the first half of the second 45-minute he let Bucku onto the field, who immediately took part in the opposing goal - in the 65th minute, Carlos shot into the penalty area on Costa, Jaume's kick was blocked, but the ball flew off to Gaspar, who with a rebound from Filipe Louis sent him to the far corner - 1: 1. After that, the “yellow submarine” received a psychological advantage and began to exert even more pressure on someone else's penalty in one of the episodes of the Parties could not withstand such pressure and out of the blue gave the ball to the opponent, thanks to which Moreno was taken to the shock position, but the attacker again failed to beat the clouds. in melee.

A minute later, the goalkeeper Atletico again played beyond all praise, rescued his team - Bakka broke out on a date with the Slovenian, threw the ball past the goalkeeper and already raised his leg for a goal kick, but Oblak rushed under the ball in a desperate jump and did not allow Carlos to send him into the goal. The pressure on the gates of Madrid did not decrease, the hosts created another slaughter moment, but again failed to score, as the long-suffering Moreno did not close Costa’s chamber, not reaching the ball. In the end of the meeting, Simeone's players calmed the game and moved to another half of the field, slowly rolled the ball in anticipation of the final whistle and could even snatch the victory, but Lemar did not hit the goal from an advantageous position after Juanfran's flank. Before the end of the match, the teams did not manage to score, and as a result, having split the world, we can safely say that one of the two central matches of the tour was a success..

In the 10th round, Villarreal will go on a visit to the sensational Alaves, and Atletico will take Real Sociedad.

Villarreal - Atletico 1: 1.

Goals: Gaspard, 65 - Filipe Luis, 51 Villarreal: Asencio - Gaspard, Gonzalez, Funes Mori, X. Costa - Trigeros, Iturra (Bacca, 64 (Ecambi, 76)) - Cazorla, Fornals, Pedraza (Caceres, 73) - Moreno Atletico: Oblak - Juanfran, Jimenez, Hernandez, Filipe Luis (Godin, 77) - Coke, Parthei, Rodry (Lemar, 46), Saul - Griezmann, Kalinich (Correa, 46) Warnings: Iturra, Gonzalez, Pedraza - Juanfran.