Thrilling and even-matched football in the Bernabéu

The Liga BBVA leaders, Real Madrid, closed out Sunday's action with a 1-1 draw against Villarreal CF. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 52nd minute but the visitors found another dimension to their game when they brought on Luciano Vietto and managed to salvage a point thanks to Gerard Moreno's goal.

Villarreal came closet to finding the back of the net in the first half. The goals and excitement would have to wait until after the break with Cristiano Ronaldo getting his thirtieth Liga BBVA goal of the season by converting a penalty kick.

Marcelino García Toral decided to make use of his substitutes and opted to bring on Luciano Vietto. The Argentinian only needed two minutes to make his mark on the encounter when he set up Gerard Moreno in the 64th minute. The striker hit a left-footed strike from outside the box that Iker Casillas was unable to keep out. Real Madrid reacted quickly after conceding, with Cristiano carving out a number of chances. However, the Yellows defenders and Sergio Asenjo prevented the Portuguese man from getting a second.

Spurred on by the Barcelona native's goal, the Castile-La Mancha side began to string some nice moves together and started to look like the dominant team. Vietto, who was tireless from the moment he came on, wasted a chance to put Villarreal ahead with just Casillas to beat. With three points to play for, the game opened up as both sides went out for a win and began leaving gaps at the back. Jesé Rodríguez had one of the clearest chances following a Sergio Asenjo mistake, but he somehow failed to capitalise on the open net in front of him.

Meanwhile, the visitors almost snatched a victory when Vietto sent a powerful header goalward that forced an excellent save from the Madrid keeper. The dying stages of the match saw Real Madrid pushing to make it 2-1 but Villareal knew how to hang onto the result and thereby subjected their opponents to their first draw of the season.