Matchday 26
A striker’s goal in the final stages of a very close duel allowed Real Madrid to attack Vallecas and left a dashing Rayo with honey on his lips
Benzema pulled Real Madrid out of the thicket in Vallecas. A goal from the French striker after a good association with Vinicius prevented the leader from dropping two points against a gallant Rayo who was about to stop the bleeding that has kept him as the worst First team since the beginning of this year. Andoni Iraola’s team suffered in the first quarter of an hour, where Carlo Ancelotti’s team showed the intensity demanded by the coach, but improved as the minutes went by and had chances to get a good result from their former stronghold. But the proverbial punch of the visiting ‘9’, even on a gray afternoon until then, awarded three hard-working points to the whites who transferred the pressure to Sevilla hours after a derby that was hotter than ever at the Sánchez Pizjuán.
Ancelotti changed his plan, but not his names. The same as always, except Nacho for the limping Alaba, to try to play something else. The Italian, master of the counterattack, assumes that his team must be more authoritarian with the ball because that is what the fans demand, the idiosyncrasy of the most successful club in history and even the dugout. Real Madrid came out for this purpose, giving notice before the first minute was up. Carvajal filtered a good ball for Asensio, who finished off with his right foot against the body of Luca Zidane. The Balearic has the cannon in his left foot and looks better with meters in between. His thing is the great goals and when Benzema left him a shot without too much difficulty from the balcony of the area he hit him listlessly, making it easy for the goalkeeper raised in La Fábrica and always under suspicion due to his illustrious surname.
The question was whether it was possible to modify the proposal without altering the rattan. Because to be more aggressive fresh legs are needed and Ancelotti’s non-negotiable eleven walks with the odometer shot. In front of him he had as a duelist a depressed adversary, but eager to strike a blow on the table that would sweep away his sorrows with a stroke of the pen. Iraola’s men started lukewarm, but they immediately got their act together.
0
Lightning
Luca Zidane, Balliu, Catena, Mario Suárez, Fran García, Óscar Valentín (Ciss, min. 65), Comesaña, Baby, Trejo (Nteka, min. 85), Álvaro García (Sylla, min. 85) and Sergi Guardiola (Falcao , minute 72).
1
Real Madrid
Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Mendy, Casemiro (Valverde, min. 61), Modric (Ceballos, min. 88), Kroos, Asensio (Rodrygo, min. 80), Benzema and Vinicius (Camavinga, min. 88).
-
Goal:
0-1: min. 83, Benzema. -
Referee:
Díaz de Mera (Castilian-La Mancha Committee). He admonished Óscar Valentín, Trejo, Casemiro, Mendy, Balliu, Baby, Catena and Ceballos. -
Incidents:
Match corresponding to the twenty-sixth day of the First Division, played at the Vallecas stadium before 9,952 spectators.
Real Madrid circulated the ball quickly in the first period and managed to step on the poisonous area with some regularity, quite the opposite of the second half. The Lightning hammered from wherever it was. A cross shot from Vinicius who was chasing the squad went wide by centimeters. Another by Asensio, omnipresent, was saved by Luca Zidane with his nail. Baby responded by crashing into the side of the net with a shot with his own stamp and Sergi Guardiola intimidated with a header in a game with spark and joy because the two teams put courage into him.
The height of the wings denoted the ambition of Real Madrid, although after saving the initial stretch in which the visitors maintained their momentum, Rayo applied better in the pressure, balanced the fight and the leader left the intermission dry again after that the referee invalidated, at the request of the VAR, a goal by Casemiro for offside in an action in which the locals also claimed a foul by the midfielder on Catena.
local personality
Going through changing rooms did not alter Real Madrid’s roadmap, but neither did it diminish the personality of Iraola’s squad. Mario Suárez, with an imperial header coming out of a corner, was close to putting Rayo ahead, but Courtois aborted the goal with an extraordinary save from a changed hand.
The red-and-red notices led Ancelotti to shake the tree. Valverde entered for Casemiro, converting Kroos as a pivot in a rehearsal of what will happen in the round of 16 of the Champions League with PSG, due to the Brazilian’s sanction. At that point the dynamism of the clash had plummeted, becoming a rhythm hampered by fouls, protests and changes.
The point served Rayo to close the gap, although Iraola’s team continued to bravely challenge Real Madrid. The Chamartín team began to squeeze the clock, they felt the wear and tear of the first half and, above all, they missed the overflow of a subdued Vinicius and the handling of spaces by a depleted Benzema.
Iraola burned his last ships, withdrawing a sharp Sergi Guardiola to look for Falcao’s job. Ancelotti delayed the changes in the umpteenth example of his lack of confidence in the substitutes, despite the thickness of Real Madrid in the second period. The usual leaders got out of the jam: Benzema and Vinicius in a tuya-mine that once again rescued the Chamartín team in their favorite stretch, when the games are dying and the fruit falls ripe. On the wire again, but add and go.