Yan Diomandé scored his first goal wearing the Real Madrid jersey and secured the victory against Villarreal (1-0) on Saturday, October 10, at the Santiago Bernabéu. The 19-year-old Ivorian forward broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute during the eighth matchday of La Liga.
Launched into space by Federico Valverde, Diomandé beat the opposing goalkeeper with a right-footed cross shot. The assistant referee’s flag had initially signaled offside, but video review confirmed the goal, reports the Real Madrid match report.
The Madrid players had so far lacked success. Kylian Mbappé had notably hit the post in the first half. After the break, Thibaut Courtois had saved two attempts from Pape Gueye before the Ivorian opening goal.
The end of the match complicated Real’s task. In the 71st minute, Vinicius Júnior thought he had scored the second goal, but the action was overturned after video review. The Brazilian received a red card for pulling an opponent’s hair at the start of the play.
Reduced to ten men, the Madrid team maintained their lead. Courtois once again made an important save against Romero in the 77th minute. Diomandé’s goal therefore remained the only score of the match.
At the end of this evening, Real Madrid was in third place with 18 points, according to AFP, as reported by Abidjan.net. FC Barcelona, having defeated Getafe (3-0) earlier on Saturday, had 24 points.
Yan Diomandé with the Ivorian national team during Ivory Coast-Ecuador at the World Cup, June 14, 2026. Archive photo: Bryan Berlin / WikiPortraits / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Image cropped and converted to WebP.
