3-2

Lineup

Casillas, Ramos, Cannavaro, Heinze, Torres, Lass, Javi Garcia, Robben, Van der vaart, Rau'l, Huntelaar

Goals 

Rafael van der Vaart
47'

So another 1-0 win has secured us another three points which is great. What is greater is that Arjen Robben continued his amazing form and newly signed players, Lassana Diarra and Klass Huntelaar, both made good debuts.

Ramos (Juande not Sergio) started with Casillas in goal, Sergio on the right, Pepe and Cannavaro in the center and Heinze on the left.

In midfield, he started with Gago and Lassana Diarra who replaced the injured Guti in the center, while Robben and Sneijder played on the flanks.

Upfront there was Rau'l who partnered new signing, Klass Huntelaar.

Performance-wise, Real Madrid were absolutely offensive and amazing. They repeated the same performance they gave against Valencia and what was similar was that they failed to capitalize on the chances and score more goals which is not always good and if this keeps going we'll lose matches even if we play well.

As usual, Robben was the driving force behind Real's attack. His pace and dribbling skills literally exhausted Villarreal's defenders and helped us put more pressure on them.

He scored our only goal after an impressive run through the right-flank. The Dutch winger came inside from the right and shimmied across the penalty area past several challenges before curling a hard shot into the far top corner, leaving Diego Lopez with no chance.

That was a piece of art...

But what was more amazing though was the performance of Lassana Diarra.

I had never thought he'd have made such a debut. He looked like he had been playing with Real Madrid for years. He looked solid and unbeatable in the midfield. He also partnered Gago very well which is pretty amazing since the two had never played with each other. This supports my point that Diarra was a good signing. Many people thought that we got it wrong because the guy had been abandoned by clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth, but If this debut is just a little bit of what we'll see, the guy is absolutely good.

As for Huntelaar, he gave a good performance too although he was pretty nervous. He had a golden chance but Villarreal's goalkeeper, Diego Lopez, was faster and closed the only angle on goal to thwart the Dutch striker. The funny thing is that he got booked in his debut! Oh what a start Klass, but no worries, you'll kick-ass next time.

Real Madrid Vs Villarreal - La Liga | 04/01/2009 - 17:00 CET | Santiago Bernabeu

If there is one thing that I hate about holidays then it is the fact that there is no football (except in Engalnd, of course) so I'm glad that everyone is back at work and Real Madrid is playing tomorrow night, and excited to see Huntelaar and Lass in the white shirt.

Our rivals, Villarreal, have never won at the Bernabeu which is WOW. I mean, they are regarded as a great team, yet they have never beaten us at our stadium. This shows you how great Real Madrid is and how other teams are ALWAYS DESPERATE to beat us.

Since 1998 they have only beaten us once elsewhere -- that is in their stadium, in the street or in any other stadium on the planet.

But history is history, because what matters tomorrow is what you do on the pitch, right?

Right, news is that Pepe and Heinze have fully recovered and may return to the starting lineup tomorrow night. Christopher Metzelder looks to be ready as well and he'd be wearing a mask to protect his nose if he played.

However, Gonzalo Higuain won't play due to acute tonsillitis, while Van der vaart looks to be in good shape.

Newly signed striker, Huntelaar has fully recovered from his ankle injury and could make his dream start along Rau'l up front.

Lass Diarra is fit as well and so he should make his debut tomorrow unless Juande decides otherwise.