Real Madrid 3 - Villarreal 0

Real Madrid: César; Michel Salgado, Hierro, Pavón, Roberto Carlos (Munitis 82'); Iván Helguera (McManaman 60'), Makelele; Zidane, Raúl, Solari; Morientes (Guti 62'). 4-2-3-1.
Villarreal: López Vallejo; Galván, Ballesteros, Quique Alvarez, Unai, Arruabarrena; Amor, Galca, Cagna (Gracia 44'); Guayre (Craioveanu 65'), Víctor (Quique Martín 65'). 5-3-2.

Team changes: Madrid: Hierro, Solari for Flavio Conceiçao, McManaman / Villarreal: Unai, Arruabarrena, Guayre for Xavi Roca, Calleja, Pizzi.

Goals:
1-0. 14. Raúl. Volleyed past keeper in front of goal following Solari cross from left.
2-0. 59. Hierro (penalty). After Quique Alvarez brought down Zidane in area.
3-0. 64. McManaman. Took Guti pass to round keeper and score from wide angle.

Real Madrid bounced back from their cup final defeat at the hands of Deportivo to move back to the top of the table (for 24 hours at least) with a comfortable victory over Villarreal. If Vicente Del Bosque could have chosen any team to play to restore his side's confidence he would have probably selected Villarreal, who are currently going through their worse patch of the season. Víctor Muñoz was at loss as to what to do next, and he went back to the five man defence which had brought him earlier success at the club. His injury problem continued however, particularly up front where Pizzi was the latest to fall, although Guayre had recovered and came back in to the starting line up. As usual Del Bosque stuck to his main block of players, keeping César in goal in preference to Casillas and drafting in Solari for Figo, who was forced into playing in the final before he had fully recovered from his ankle injury and suffered a relapse as a result.

A sympathetic crowd gave their players a better reception than expected after their centenary plans were ruined on Wednesday night, and they were rewarded by an early goal from Raúl (his 27th of the season) after Solari crossed in from the left. Villarreal offered little resistance, and when they did come up with something César was there to stop them, in particular making saves from a Unai header and then from Galván when he found himself free in front of goal. Otherwise it was all Madrid, with López Vallejo stopping a Pavón header in the first half and keeping out Helguera after the restart. With just less than an hour gone Quique Alvarez brought down Zidane in the penalty area, and Hierro scored from the spot. Then five minutes later substitute McManaman made it three after running through onto Guti's return pass to beat the keeper from a wide angle.

Víctor Muñoz brought on two new front men, but they only went close again through defender Ballesteros, with Salgado clearing his header off the line. There was no real danger though, and Madrid completed their third league victory in a row, ending the weekend in second place, a point behind leaders Valencia who won the following day. Del Bosque is now expected to rest his star players in their midweek European match in preparation for next Saturday's game at Barcelona. Villarreal meanwhile have now only picked up one point from a possible nine and they drop to fifteenth, only two points above the relegation zone.