Real Madrid emerged as the Mestalla leader by winning tonight with an incredible comeback and in the added bonus against Valencia in another match with plenty of event page ingredients. The victory puts them two points above Atlético, who have one game less, and five more than Barçelona.
The paradox is that Madrid played regularly and came back when it seemed that they had lost everything and were playing with one less due to the expulsion of Vinícius in the 78th. Then they brought out their best competitive genius and sentenced with goals from Modric and Bellingham.
The match
Tense and high-voltage football
As always here the match was extremely tense. For many minutes everything that could go wrong went wrong for Madrid. Bellingham missed a penalty and Vinícius, who completed a terrible game, overcome by the atmosphere as he was continually insulted, lost his nerve and was sent off in the 78th minute for slapping Dmitrievski.
It doesn’t matter that Valencia is a decadent club, with fans fighting with the ownership. Against Madrid, Valencia grows and poses a tough battle, even more so last night when they had their new coach, Carlos Corberán, which gave them a mental boost.
Madrid doesn’t usually do too well coming back after the Christmas break and this time was no exception. Ancelotti proposed the more or less expected team, right now the gala one. With only three midfielders, it was a Madrid that from the beginning went for the game, but despite its dominance of the game, what usually fails it the least failed for a long time: hitting.
Madrid
Soft defense and errors in the finish
Valencia understood the game well, defended with order and went out to do damage whenever they could because they are a young and fast team that shoots well on the counterattack.
Madrid was greatly hindered by the lack of forcefulness up front, but they were also not very firm at the back. In the first half, Valencia came at him twice and scored once.
The goal came in the 27th minute after a foul that Madrid claimed against Rodrygo in the center of the field that neither Soto Grado nor the VOR room noticed as such. The defense was not attentive and allowed a point-blank shot by Javi Guerra that Courtois barely rejected. The ball fell dead to Hugo Duro with no one to bother him and the former La Fábrica youth player scored.
Vinícius
He played badly and was continually insulted
The goal encouraged Madrid, but it did not add finesse to their game in the final meters, in which Vinícius increasingly waged war on his own in front of an audience that did not stop insulting or mocking him, mixing all of this with requests dismissal of the board or against Peter Lim.
Madrid came close to scoring again and again, without the necessary clarity to feel it was inevitable. Vinícius had it in his boots twice. The first was taken in a great action by Tárrega; In the second, he did not need his shot in a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
The second part
Bellingham missed a penalty
The second half couldn’t have started worse for Madrid. At 54, after a struggle between Mbappé and Tárrega, the Frenchman went to the ground and Soto Grado gave a penalty to the indignation of Mestalla. Madrid continued its agony on penalties this year and Bellingham hit the base of the post. The misfortunes would continue for the whites in the 60th minute. Mbappé would score in individual action. The Rioja referee gave the goal but annulled it when the VAR warned him that Mbappé was offside when receiving the ball.
Madrid redoubled its attacks. Rodrygo forgave the tie with a high header. Ancelotti removed him for Brahim. Valencia were already very tight in their goal and after the expulsion of Vinícius they collapsed with a crash.
Modric would tie in the 84th minute with a pass from Bellingham. In the 96th minute Guillamón failed against the Englishman, who found himself facing the goalkeeper and did not forgive the 1-2 score. Surely he thought then that it was a divine help for the goal that was stolen here last year in the last play of added time. The match ended with a shot to the crossbar by Luis Rioja. The excitement lasted until then. Madrid celebrated. In his last ten visits to Mestalla, he had only won twice.
#Real #Madrid #tames #Mestalla #expulsion #Vinícius
