Samuel Chukwueze’s historic brace dents Real Madrid LaLiga dream further

Villarreal defeated Real Madrid 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu thanks to a brace from Nigeria forward Samuel Chukwueze in a Spanish LaLiga encounter on Saturday

The Nigerian international continues his inspiring form under Quique Setien, scoring two sensational goals, including the 80th-minute winner that silenced the reigning Spanish champions’ stadium.

The 23-year-old is one of the Yellow Submarine’s key players, but until this fixture, none of his 19 Spanish elite division goals had been at the expense of Los Blancos.

The hosts took the lead in the 18th minute of the game when Pau Torres turned the ball into his own net.

However, Chukwueze pulled his team level in the 39th minute as he beat Thibaut Courtois from close range from a Lo Celso assist.

Three minutes into the second half, Madrid took the lead after Vinicius Junior put the ball past goalkeeper Pepe Reina with a fantabulous solo rally.

Relentless in their affair, the visitors effort was crowned in the 70th minute of the game after Jose Luis Morales pulled the Yellow Submarines level for the second time in the game.

With the game looking to end in a draw, Chukwueze appeared as the messiah curling the ball with his favorite left foot into the top left corner, beating the outstretched Courtois from 25 yards with just 10 minutes of regular time left.

In the process, the Nigerian became the second Villarreal player to score a brace in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid, after Diego Forlan in May 2006.

Real Madrid thought they had downed their visitors’ morale once more when they thought they had a penalty in the 84th minute but following a VAR check, the decision was overruled.

Man-of-the-match Chukwueze was substituted for Kiko in the 91st minute while he was treated to an ovation by the visitors’ fans.

The Super Eagles star has now scored  21 goals with six goals in the 2022-23 league season alone.