Workout
Meditation
Contact Us
Real Madrid beat Villarreal and qualified for the quarterfinals of the Copa de la Reina. Below are my thoughts and opinions on the match.
Mylene Chavas started in goal. Antonia and Oihane started as full-backs, giving Olga a rest, while Oihane was the one who played as a full-back. Tere and Toletti are the pivotal duo. Navarro and Athenea operating on the wings with Redondo taking on the number 10 role and Naomie Feller leading the line.
Villarreal’s low blocking with a 5-4-1 without the ball was a difficult task for Real Madrid to overcome. Most of the actions were attempted from the right wing with Navarro and Antonia, however neither of them used to combine with any of the midfielders to break Villarreal’s formation. The lack of triangles with the midfield allowed the rivals to push Las Blancas out and not let them in no matter how many dribbles were attempted. For much of the game, the only effort made was runs in the wide area in the hope of managing to dribble past a two-man player. Two of the first concrete actions of the match were a long ball from behind into the area and a quick counter by Feller that ended in a foul on the Frenchwoman. Real Madrid’s best bet in this approach to the game was long balls to overcome Villarreal’s block, as happened in the first goal of the game. Both goals came after aerial dodging of Villarreal’s horizontal lines and showed that the yellow submarine knew what they were doing with their low block.
Las Blancas started the second half strong, with more concrete answers on how to break Villarreal’s low block. Feller gravitated more towards the wide area at times to help, especially after Navarro was replaced by Møller in the 68th minute and then Shei replaced Lakrar in the 73rd minute, which made the right side work better. After the last substitution in the 73rd minute, the synergy between Feller and Shei was evident, although they committed some failed passes between them, that side of the field still looked sharper with the two of them. Carla Camacho also came on in the 73rd minute, for Alba Redondo, and in her first minute on the pitch she was well positioned in the area to receive a cross from the left, but missed by centimeters. She spent the rest of her time on the field as a number 9, with Møller behind her.
- 31′: GOAL (0-1) by Alba Redondo: a pass over Tere’s Villarreal defensive line followed by a shot over Redondo’s goalkeeper. A perfect combination to open the scoring.
- 62′: GOAL (0-2) by Teresa Abelleira: The ball recovered after a clearance by Quesada was capitalized by Tere who took a long shot when the goalkeeper was still out of position. A worldie scored by the assistant of the first goal.
Important victory to give Real Madrid a ticket to the quarterfinals of the Queen’s Cup and close the year 2024 strong.
