Underwhelming Real held to draw at home
REAL MADRID may the favourites for the Champions League but a 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao yesterday will hardly have struck fear into Bayern Munich.
Zinedine Zidane’s side started complacently at the Santiago Bernabeu and ended frantically, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s 87th-minute equaliser cancelling out a delightful early chip from Athletic’s Inaki Williams in between.
Barcelona’s commanding lead at the top of La Liga, which now stands at 12 points over Atletico Madrid and 15 on Real, means these matches carry reduced significance and inevitably lack a certain edge.
But Zidane may at least be concerned by a loss of momentum, particularly given this side is likely to be very close to the one that starts the semifinal first leg at the Allianz Arena in a week’s time.
Real have managed to hit a different gear in the Champions League knockout stages but this draw means they have now won only once in their last four matches, having strung together 11 victories from their previous 12.
“The result wasn’t what we wanted today and mentally also, we were a little off,” Zidane said. “What we have to do is rest, we have five days before the game on Wednesday, we will prepare well and then we will give everything. We have a semifinal and we will fight to the death to defend our title.”
Ronaldo’s late flick was his 22nd goal in 12 games and with the Portuguese in this sort of form, almost any performance can be sal- vaged.
But Real’s night was better summed up by one moment in the second half when Sergio Ramos repeatedly failed to clear and then turned to face the crowd’s jeers with his arms outstretched. The jeers grew louder.
Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Raphael Varane and Marcelo all returned but there was no place for Gareth Bale, who had also been left out against Malaga. His preserved energy was deemed only valuable enough for 30 minutes off the bench.
Despite the strong picks, Real were sloppy from the outset, full of heavy touches and misplaced passes while Athletic delivered an early warning for what was to come when Mikel San Jose skipped in behind but was denied by Keylor Navas.
Inigo Cordoba received the ball on the half turn and with nobody near him, threaded the ball inside Ramos. Williams was onto it in a flash before lifting an expert finish over Navas.
Ronaldo was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty midway through the second half after being bundled over by Unai Nunez but Real were even luckier not to fall two behind moments later, when Cordoba’s finish at the back post hit Carvajal and Raul Garcia’s follow-up struck the bar.
Bale and Isco came on with just over 20 minutes left, the latter receiving the warmer welcome, but it was not until the 87th minute that Real finally found an equaliser. – AFP