Preview: Villarreal vs Real Madrid

Villarreal vs Real Madrid

This afternoon at the El Madrigal stadium, Villarreal says goodbye to its fans for this season, a year in which if the trajectory of the team in the League championship had to be defined with one word, this would be "regular". From the fourth day, when team defeated Deportivo (1-0), the yellow set lasted for four days in the second position of the table, in 16 days in the third set, and in 13 days in the fourth that currently occupies.

They are facts ​​to celebrate, to play a game without pressure, to enjoy ... Although mathematically with two games to play has options to reach the third place occupied by Valencia with 67 points, a place that gives direct access to the next UEFA Champions League 2011-12. Villarreal has already secured fourth place with 62 points what allows them to dispute the preview of the Champions League. But the "Yellow Submarine" will want more, especially if they play against Real Madrid.

Or they play against Cristiano? Cristiano Ronaldo's treble against Getafe was his fourth hat-trick of the season and his fifth since joining Real Madrid. The forward, who also has seven braces to his name this year, has 13 multi-goal performances in the 26 matches he has scored in. What's more, he is the first player in the history of La Liga to score three or more goals six times in one season. Romario and Langara shared the record of five.

Ronaldo has played in 52 matches this year (32 in "La Liga", 12 in UCL and 8 in Spanish Cup) and scored in 26 of them, for an average of one goal every two matches. But CR7 doesn't settle once he has found the back of the net. Quite the opposite in fact. Thirteen of the 26 matches he has scored in have been multi-goal performances.

The Madridista forward is sitting on 49 goals this season and 82 since arriving in the Spanish capital in the summer of 2009. Twenty-two times over the last two seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than one goal in a match (15 braces, 5 hat-tricks and two four-plus goal performances). He has scored in an astounding 49 of the 87 matches (56.3%) played for Real Madrid.

With 235 total goals as a professional footballer, Ronaldo is on the verge of earning his second Golden Boot, his first Pichichi trophy (top scorer in La Liga) and equalling or breaking the 38-goal record for goals in a season set by Zarra and Hugo Sanchez.

Villarreal definitely plays against Ronaldo. In the first round, in the Week 18 on the match played at the Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid beat Villarreal 4-2 with three goals from Cristiano. Perhaps a good sign for Real Madrid... and Cristiano.