A REAL BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE
Madrid recovery halted by three Valencia penalties and own-goal
REAL Madrid were thrashed 4-1 at struggling Valencia on Sunday as Carlos Soler scored a hat-trick of penalties to raise further doubts over La Liga’s reigning champions. Madrid took the lead through Karim Benzema but presented Valencia with four gifts at Mestalla, including three spot-kicks and an own-goal scored by Raphael Varane, to fall to another surprise defeat.
“There is no justification, no excuses,” said Zinedine Zidane.
“It’s a bad game and a bad day.”
This is the first time Madrid have conceded four goals since letting in five against Barcelona in October 2018 and puts the brakes on their recovery that had followed a rocky start to the season.
After back-to-back losses to Cadiz and Shakhtar Donestsk last month, Zinedine Zidane’s side appeared to have turned a corner with wins over Barca, Huesca and Inter Milan.
Yet this result puts the pressure back on ahead of the international break, with Madrid now fourth in the table, four points behind early leaders Real Sociedad.
A disappointing night also got worse when Benzema was forced off late on with what looked like a groin injury.
“Everything happened to us,” Zidane said.
Valencia, meanwhile, started the day in 17th after enduring a nightmare start to the campaign, on the back of a transfer window which saw them sell five key players and fail to replace any of them.
A stirring victory though pushes Javi Gracia’s team up to ninth and may prove a turning point in their season.
Real Sociedad regained top spot after winning 2-0 against a depleted Granada, who could face punishment for fielding fewer than the required number of firstteam players.
Granada, who drop to fifth, had only seven first-team players available and finished with only four on the pitch, one fewer than La Liga’s minimum of five, with the rest made up from the youth team.
Unai Emery’s Villarreal move up to second in the table after they won 3-1 against Getafe.