OFF GUARD Sergi’s late leveller frustrates Zidane
Real Madrid 1 Real Valladolid
REAL MADRID stumbled to a draw against Real Valladolid in their first home game of the La Liga season last night.
Zinedine Zidane’s men were left frustrated after the visitors grabbed an 88th- minute leveller via former Barcelona trainee Sergi Guardiola.
Karim Benzema looked to have won it in the 82nd minute. The Frenchman produced a piece of sublime skill, controlling a pass with his back to goal before swivelling and firing home.
Madrid have four points after two games – having beaten Celta Vigo 3-1 away.
They will be kicking themselves it’s not six from six here. Gareth Bale once again started after coming back into the fold.
The Welshman almost quit for China in the transfer window but the move was blocked by Real president Florentino Perez.
The former Spurs winger struck a shot wide in the first half before narrowly heading off- target after the interval.
Serbian striker Luka Jovic had gone close to opening the scoring when he headed against the bar barely a minute after coming off the bench.
Valladolid offered little in attack but grew in confidence in the second period, despite the setback of Benzema’s brilliant opener.
They grabbed a shock equaliser with only their second shot on target with two minutes to go.
To add insult to injury, it was Guardiola (left), who began his career at the Nou Camp, who struck.
Collecting possession from Oscar Plano, he fired through the legs of Thibaut Courtois to c o mp l e t e a s wi f t c ounter- attack after Toni Kroos had given the ball away.
And Valladolid might even have pulled off a shock win but Waldo Rubio had his thumping drive pushed away by Courtois.
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