A setback for Real. For the first time this season, Carlo Ancelotti’s men failed to win at Santiago Bernabeu. This Sunday evening, they had to settle for a 0-0 draw against Rayo Vallecano, on the 12th day of La Liga. Although dominant, they could never find the fault. They must leave first place in the ranking to the surprising Girona, which, with 31 points, is now two steps ahead.
For once, Jude Bellingham could not be the providential man for the Merengue. The fantastic English midfielder, scorer of 13 goals in 13 matches in all competitions before this match, played mainly on the left side in the first half before being realigned after the break. But he couldn’t tell any difference. Probably also because he was hampered by shoulder pain that occurred in the very first minutes of play.
Real stumbles on Dimitrievski
Without the influence of its new nugget from Dortmund, Real Madrid could still have won. From the first moments, Valverde recovered a ball 30 meters away to throw himself into the opponent’s area. But he lost his face-to-face against Dimitrievski, who came out well against him (6th). The Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper also stood out in front of Joselu, magnificently pushing back the Spanish striker’s recovery on his line following a back pass from Vinicius (39th).
After the break, Real were less dashing despite still having clear possession and an opponent forced to play very low. We had to wait for the entry of Rodrygo (69th) to wake up a little the team which was relying too much on the individual exploits of Vinicius. The Brazilian substitute could have been made a savior if his cross shot from the right had not gone wide (71st) or if his Madjer had not ended up in the arms of Dimitrievski (90th + 3). Instead, Real failed to score for the first time all season
2023-11-05 22:23:00
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