Villarreal were able to match Real’s slick passing for much of the game but their finishing let them down. Luka Modric gave the visitors the lead on the half hour with a drive into the corner from 20 yards.
Carlo Ancelotti gave his attacking players licence to exchange position and Karim Benzema, returning to the side, picked out Ronaldo to finish clinically in the centre of the penalty area five minutes from the break. It was his 10th league goal this season.
Villarreal continued to press forward after the restart with Mario Gaspar and Gabriel going close with efforts but following the high tempo of the first half both teams began to run out of steam.
"The best aspect is that we won a difficult game against a side that played very well," Ancelotti told a news conference.
"We controlled the game. We had to suffer at times and at others we were able to play our football. It was a good game from us where we had a good attitude and we deserved to win."
Real now have 12 points from six games, a point behind Valencia, Barcelona and Sevilla who are in a three-way tie for first place.
Later Barca, who dropped their first points in midweek with a draw against Malaga, take on Granada while champions Atletico Madrid face Sevilla.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Toby Davis)
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