Kathmandu,

January 8,

Real Madrid suffered a blow in their bid to repeat as La Liga champions after falling 2-1 at Villarreal in an entertaining, action-packed match that was also tinged in controversy. The defending champions missed a chance to go top of the La Liga table with a win or draw.

Yeremy Pino opened the scoring for Villarreal just after the break before Madrid levelled through Karim Benzema's penalty in the 60th minute, but parity lasted only three minutes as Moreno also fired home from the spot to secure the points.

Madrid stay second, level on 38 points with Barca who visit fourth-placed Atletico Madrid on Sunday, while Villarreal's third straight league win moves them up to fifth spot.