Dani Carvajal was taken off on a stretcher in injury time as Real Madrid continued their unbeaten start to the La Liga season with victory over Villarreal at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

The Spanish right-back screamed in pain after appearing to hyperextend his knee in a collision with Yeremy Pino and was carried off the pitch in tears.

Federico Valverde struck for Real from the edge of the penalty area and hit the bottom left corner in the 14th minute, deflecting the unfortunate Alex Baena.

Moments later, Villarreal almost equalized when Nicolas Pepe’s header from Baena’s cross hit the crossbar before Thierno Barry headed over the bar.

Vinicus Junior secured the victory with 17 minutes to play by firing a powerful shot from distance into the top corner.

Real had further chances to extend their lead, but Antonio Rüdiger sent a header over the crossbar and England international Jude Bellingham’s long-range shot went past the post.

Villarreal thought they had a penalty five minutes after the break when Aurelien Tchouameni fouled Barry, but the French striker was ruled offside.

Baena’s 25-yard free kick clipped the side netting, home goalkeeper Andriy Lunin jumped to the left as the away team kept trying but ultimately couldn’t find a way back into the game.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side are now unbeaten in their last 41 La Liga games (W30 U11), the second-best unbeaten run by a team in the competition’s entire history.

Rivals Barcelona are the only team to surpass that in 2018, with a 43-game unbeaten league streak (34 wins, 9 draws).

The result means Real are level on points with Barca at the top of the table, although Hansi Flick’s side will be three points clear if they win at Alaves on Sunday (3:15pm BST).