Real Madrid 3-1 Villarreal: Vinicius double helps hosts back to LaLiga summit

Vinicius Junior scored twice and drew a red card for Santiago Mourino as Real Madrid returned to the top of LaLiga with a 3-1 win over Villarreal at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Kylian Mbappe joined Vinicius on the scoresheet as Madrid bounced back from their 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid last time out in LaLiga, pulling two points clear of Barcelona ahead of their trip to Sevilla on Sunday.

The best chance of the first half fell to Villarreal's Tani Oluwaseyi, but he was denied one-on-one by Thibaut Courtois, who recovered well after being sat down by the striker's dummy.

Franco Mastantuono dragged a shot wide of the near post shortly before half-time, but Madrid went ahead just three minutes after the restart as Vinicius' strike beat Arnau Tenas via a fortuitous deflection off visiting captain Santi Comesana.

Vinicius then won and converted a penalty in the 69th minute, going down under Rafa Marin's challenge near the byline then squeezing a somewhat weak kick under Tenas.

Georges Mikautadze pulled one back with a fierce 20-yard strike four minutes later, but Villarreal's hopes were quickly extinguished when Mourino – who had been cautioned for an earlier foul on Vinicius – caught the Brazilian with a flailing arm and was dismissed.

And Madrid took advantage by stretching their lead nine minutes from time, with Mbappe tucking into an empty net following a slick one-two with Brahim Diaz.

Data Debrief: Vinicius steals the show

Vinicius did not enjoy the smoothest start to the season, with new Madrid boss Xabi Alonso forced to deny rumours of a rift with the Brazil international last month.

But with the likes of Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo starting on the bench, Vinicius took centre-stage with only his second LaLiga brace since the start of last season – and his first since netting a hat-trick against Osasuna last November.

Vinicius led all players on the pitch for shots (five), shots on target (four), touches in the penalty area (17) and expected goals (1.3 xG), also laying on six chances for team-mates.

Only Mbappe – who netted his ninth goal of the campaign – and Julian Alvarez of Atletico Madrid (six goals) have now outscored Vinicius (five) in LaLiga this season.