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14.12.2013 » Osasuna 2-2 Real Madrid. 2 important points dropped in Pamplona
Real Madrid's defense has failed yet again in terms of bringing any sort of consistency at the back, which led to a very frustrating 2-2 draw against Osasuna this Saturday afternoon. Carlo Ancelotti's men were already trailing by two goals near the first-half break, when Sergio Ramos' reckless behavior saw him being shown a second yellow card and getting sent off. Even though the Merengues had to play one man down for most of the remaining game, they still managed to reach the 2-2 draw thanks to a goal scored late in the 1st half from Isco and a Pepe header already inside the last 10 minutes of the game.
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Osasuna vs Real Madrid
Osasuna 2-2 Real Madrid goals and highlights video:
Real Madrid played their strongest line-up in their visit to Osasuna, with a gifted midfield trio featuring Xabi Alonso, Modric and Isco, who have been showing some high caliber football over the last games. Together with Pepe, they were probably the best performers the Merengues had on the pitch during this Saturday's match in Pamplona. It's hard to understand that even in these circumstances of having all your midfielders playing so well, Real Madrid struggled so much to get the better of a 16th ranked La Liga side. We could find many reasons to justify this weekend's upset, starting with Sergio Ramos careless and irresponsible attitude on the pitch that led to his red card, Karim Benzema's lethargic stance throughout the whole game, Ancelotti's tactical changes and controversial substitutions, or even Cristiano Ronaldo's unusual lack of efficiency in front of goal.
The hosts got to break the deadlock with only 15 minutes played in the first half, when Bertrán managed to find some room close to the sideline on the right and sent a long cross towards Real Madrid's box. Inexplicably, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Carvajal, all failed to mark a couple of Osasuna's players already inside the penalty area and Oriol Riera got to easily seize his opportunity to net the opener for the Pamplona side. Really bad defending from Ancelotti's men, which is something that unfortunately we keep seeing over and over...
The goal ended up unsettling the Merengues a bit, who until then had been playing well and creating quite good opportunities to score, including at least one from Ronaldo. Osasuna managed to resist to all the initial threats thrown by the visitors and would end up being rewarded with a second goal in the 39th minute, which came from a corner kick on the right. Once again, Real Madrid marking and lack of defensive focus made them pay... Diego López still pulled off a tremendous save to block a first header, but the rebound felt over to a completely unmarked Oriel Riera, who had no trouble sending it in, towards an empty net.
As if things couldn't get any worse, just four minutes after Osasuna's second goal, Sergio Ramos stretched his arm in an unnatural manner when he wasn't even holding the ball and hit an Osasuna player in the face. The referee spotted the incident and immediately rushed towards the former Sevilla player to show him the second yellow card and send him off from the pitch. Real Madrid's betting odds to win the game suddenly went sky-high, as not only they were trailing by two, but also they also had slightly more than 45 minutes ahead to play and they had to do it being one man down.
Fortunately for the Merengues, Cristiano Ronaldo reappeared in the game just one minute later to spark the first reaction wave. In what was probably the best action from the Portuguese forward in the whole game, Ronaldo drew the attention of four Osasuna defenders as he was slaloming between them and left the ball over to Isco, unmarked in the centre. The former Malaga wonderboy showed off his technique and striking skills and struck the ball past Andrés Fernéndez from outside the box, sending Real Madrid back to the discussion of the game.
With a 2-1 for the hosts at the break, Real Madrid's hopes to complete a "remontada" were slightly better than they were when they saw Sergio Ramos being shown the red card, even though the task they had ahead was far from being an easy one... Osasuna was putting a lot of intensity when challenging for loose balls and they failed to avoid Chile's Francisco Silva from also being shown the red card as we were entering the last 10 minutes of the game, after a hard tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo. It was precisely from the set-pieces play following that foul that Real Madrid scored the equaliser. Angel Di María made a short pass to Isco who was standing near him and the Spaniard picked out Pepe on the far post for a powerful header that gave no chances to Osasuna's goalkeeper.
The game would finish with the 2-2 on the scoreboard and Real Madrid couldn't help but to drop another 2 points in a very tight title race against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The Merengues still have two games left before the end of the calendar year, with the first being the Copa del Rey 2nd leg against Olimpic Xativa and then an always tough away fixture for La Liga, against Valencia. Ronaldo will be forced to sit out from next Wednesday's game though, since he still has 1 game left of suspension in the Copa del Rey, but he should be back next Sunday for the league game at the Mestalla.
Real Madrid line-up vs Osasuna:
Goalkeeper: Diego López
Defenders: Marcelo, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Carvajal
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Modric, Isco
Attackers: Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema.
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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|---|---|---|
Osasuna
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vs
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Real Madrid
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2 |
Goals |
2 |
11 |
Shots |
17 |
7 |
Shots on goal |
4 |
3 |
Corner kicks |
8 |
9 |
Fouls commited |
14 |
6 |
Yellow cards |
3 |
1 |
Red cards |
1 |
36% |
Ball possession |
64% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game will be for Real Madrid, against Olimpic Xativa for the Copa del Rey, this next Wednesday (December 18, 2013). You can watch Juventus live stream, Real Madrid vs Olimpic Xativa, Barcelona vs Cartagena, Aston Villa vs Manchester United and Tottenham vs Liverpool, all matches provided from our football streamings live section.
Real Madrid next game:
Real Madrid vs Olimpic Xativa kick-off time (14-12-2013):
Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 02:30
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+2: 21:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+1: 20:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-3: 16:30
New York (United States) | GMT-4: 15:30
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-7: 12:30
Beijing (China) | GMT+8: 03:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / espn.com / yahoo.com / theguardian.com
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