Madrid held to frustrating draw by Valladolid

Madrid: Real Madrid’s early optimism was punctured by an 88th-minute equaliser from Real Valladolid’s Sergi Guardiola as Zinedine Zidane’s side stumbled to a 1-1 draw in their first home game of the La Liga season on Saturday. Karim Benzema looked to have fired Madrid to a second straight win after last week’s confidence-boosting 3-1 victory at Celta Vigo when he scored in the 82nd minute with a splendid piece of skill.

The Frenchman, Madrid’s top scorer last campaign, controlled a pass with his back to goal and swivelled before striking his finish into the far corner to give the home side a deserved lead.

Serbian striker Luka Jovic had gone close to breaking the deadlock earlier in the game when he headed against the crossbar barely a minute after coming off the bench, while Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez also spurned chances.

Valladolid had offered little in attack but grabbed a shock equaliser with only their second shot on target when Guardiola struck through the legs of Thibaut Courtois to complete a swift counter-attack after Toni Kroos had surrendered possession.

The goal plunged a happy Santiago Bernabeu crowd into silence and left Madrid with four points after two games.

“I’m left with a bitter taste because we did the hardest thing, which was to score in a second half where we did not produce our best performance,” Madrid coach Zidane told a news conference.

“It’s a bad feeling when you concede an equaliser so soon after scoring. We played well in the first half, but we were unable to find the net.”