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Real Madrid came from two goals down to beat Villarreal 3-2 against an inspired Samuel Chukwueze
Real Madrid pulled off an astonishing late comeback victory from two goals down to beat Villarreal 3-2 to advance to the Copa Del Rey quarter-finals.
The home side started on the front foot and raced in front with two first-half goals, the second of which was scored by Nigerian international, Samuel Chukwueze.
But the visitors would rally back in the second half to pull off an unlikely comeback at the Estadio de la Ceramica and seal a 3-2 win in the round of 16 tie.
Chukwueze inspired Villarreal in the first half
Buoyed on by their 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the league 12 days prior, Villarreal started the game as the better side, moving the ball around with confidence that was rewarded with an early goal.
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Etienne Capoue found himself some space inside the box to get on the end of a pass from Gerard Moreno and then sent the ball into the top left corner to make it 1-0 to Villarreal after just four minutes of play.
The Yellow Submarine continued to dominate the first half which they ended 53% possession, nine shots on goal, three of which were on target.
The most memorable shot on target came in the 42nd minute when Chukwueze finished off a lovely team move with a left-footed shot into the roof of the net after being nicely picked out by Gerrard Moreno.
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Quique Setien's men took that two-goal advantage into the half-time break but they could not have known how differently the match would look at full-time.
Real Madrid's second-half comeback
Real Madrid came out of the break playing with increased urgency most likely down to Carlo Ancelotti's team talk but it was the Italian manager's in-game decisions that changed the game.
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Dani Ceballos and Marco Asensio both came off the bench to replace Toni Kroos and Rodrygo respectively and the impact was immediate.
Ceballos assisted Vinicius Jr to pull one back for Los Blancos with a neat finish into the bottom corner within a minute of the Spanish midfielder being on the pitch.
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12 minutes later, Madrid were level through Eder Militao as the defender was in the right place at the right time to rifle home a rebound that broke his way.
The substitutes stepped up again as Marco Asensio played a pass to the feet of Daniel Ceballos who shot into the bottom right corner from inside the box to give Real Madrid the lead four minutes from regulation time.
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The visitors held on for the 3-2 win to secure passage to the next round, thanks to their second-half performance in which they registered seven shots, five of which were on target.
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