Another victory for Real Madrid. The journey continues! The match against Eibar was a match that should've been played easily and so happened. A very difficult week awaits for Real madrid and it is impossible not to think about it. The players had to keep the mind off the upcoming crucial matches and focus on passing Eibar first and they did not fail. On the pitch we saw Real Madrid that did not run with the fifth gear in order to save some energies but the determination was the same and the result came. A two goal clean victory with some other nice chances and a good possession keeps Real Madrid up to date with the rivals of the first and the second place (Atletico and Barcelona) which will play their respoective matches on Sunday and Monday.
The match didn't start slowly. It was only the 3rd minute when Benzema found himself in front of the opponent's keeper after their defense made a mistake turning the ball behind carelessly. Unfortunately the keeper was well positioned and Benzema did not get the most out of that opportunity. Two minutes later Benzema scores when Marcelo serves him with a great cross but the offside flag gets raised. The match started very well for the Madridistas. As the minutes passed Real Madrid continued to control the game and players like Marcelo, Asensio and Isco who had the opportunity to show themselves after staring often from the bench, were performing very well. It was exactly Asensio who tried to take the most out of a free kick but his beautiful shot was stopped by the crossbar! Zidane's choice to put them from the start worked. In the 37th minute Real Madrid touches the net again with Asensio after a nice play by Vasquez but the goal is disallowed again due to offside. However, we only had to wait for four minutes, until the 41th minute, to see the real goal. This time Casemiro carves the opponent's defence with a great ball for Asensio who nicely puts the ball in front of himself to create the 1vs1 situation with the keeper and scores! The team goes with an important advantage in the dressing room.
The second half went underway with the rain approaching and with Real trying to make the advantage bigger. The ball possession continued to great and also minor chances and good plays were keeping the game alive. But however Eibar did not give up without trying. They were slowly trying to approach Courtois but their attempts were always neutralized by the defense. It was always difficult for Pedro Leon and the others to create real dangers as they faced the defensive line of Real Madrid. After the 55th minute Real Madrid lowered the rhythm a bit and gave some opportunities to the opponent. A bad first touch by Paulo Oliveira took away a nice chance as Pedro Leon served him well with a cross after swinging in the corner from the right.. Then it was a mistake by Lucas Vaquez that forced Courtois give away a corner. The wet pitch makes the ground passing harder and Lucas' attempt to pass the ball behind to the keeper almost gave away a goal to Eibar.
On the 60th mintue Zidane decided to make some changes in order to refresh the team and score the 2nd goal. We suddenly had two subs, Kroos for Modric and Rodrygo for Asensio and 8 minutes later Arribas for Isco and Vinicius for Marcelo. Five minutes later it was Vinicius who served Benzema with a cross from the left: this time Karim did not forgive the opponent's keeper. A nice header put Madrid in a two goal advantage and From that moment Eibar really started to feel the defeat approaching. Three subs by Jose Luis Mendilibar could not change the fate of the match. On the 81th minute Benzema left his place to Mariano Diaz to save energies for the upcoming matches and also to give some minutes to Mariano who has been benched most of the time. The remaining minutes showed Eibar trying to create something without worrying about the result since they had nothing to lose anymore and Real Madrid trying to manage the advantage and to close the match.
This match was considered by the media as a warm up for the upcoming difficult matches that Real Madrid will have this week but nothing is ever certain and every opponent should be respected and given the right attention. A big team like Real Madrid knows this very well and tries to get the job done!
With this victory we have a couple of great milestones: Karim Benzema who scored his 9th goal in the last 7 matches, 150 La Liga performances for Nacho, 250 matches in charge of Real Madrid for Zidane and 250 wins at Real Madrid for the maestros Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Great job! Now head on UCL, an extremely difficult showdown against Liverpool is awaiting for Zidane's boys.
Hala Madrid!
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