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02.02.2014 » Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Real Madrid. Points dropped and Ronaldo sent off
Real Madrid's 10-game winning streak was broken last night, after a 1-1 tie against Athletic Bilbao, in what may have been a crucial La Liga fixture. Barcelona had already lost 2-3 at home last Saturday against Valencia, which in its turn allowed Atletico Madrid to go on top of the league, after crushing Real Sociedad by 5-1 at the Vicente Calderón. The Merengues had a tough night in San Mamés and even though they somehow managed to take the lead deep in the second half, thanks to a goal from Jesé Rodríguez, they failed to hold on to it until the referee's final whistle. Athletic's equalizer seems to have triggered Real Madrid's unsettled side and Cristiano Ronaldo ended up being a victim of himself, as he failed to ignore the hosts provocations in a couple of disagreements he had with Athletic players. After a few pushes, face scratchings and a head to head, the Real Madrid forward was shown the red card and left his side playing with 10 men for the remaining 15 minutes of the game...
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Real Madrid goals and highlights video:
All Cristiano Ronaldo actions vs Athletic Bilbao:
Ancelotti couldn't count with Gareth Bale for this Sunday night game, as the Welshman is still recovering from another injury he picked up recently. To take his place, the Italian manager relied on the talented Jesé Rodríguez and the truth is that the 20-year old forward wouldn't disappoint his coach. Real Madrid was coming off a 10-game winning streak (5 in La Liga) and a club-record 8-game clean sheet streak. After seeing Barça getting beaten in the Camp Nou just 24 hours ago, the Merengues had all in their favor to take the 3 points from San Mamés and finally go on top of their arch-rivals. Unfortunately, that's not what quite happened last night, since the home side appeared to have taken this game more seriously and with a higher level of motivation and intensity...
Let's start by stating that the whole game was a bit atypical. Real Madrid had less ball possession than Athletic in both halves, which means that even when the game was 11 against 11, the hosts were dictating the pace and the rhythm as they wanted. That's not normal to happen with Real Madrid and especially not this season under Carlo Ancelotti's orders, whom, as we know, has stressed in many occasions that he likes seeing his teams getting a good hold on the ball. Athletic Bilbao finished the game with 58% of ball posession, against a poor 42% from Real Madrid.
After a goalless first half where neither side proved to be capable of creating many goalscoring chances except for one or two good situations, it would be Real Madrid grabbing the lead around the 65th minute of the game. It all started in Di María recovering the football, leaving it over to Karim Benzema who was right to his side and then the Frenchman passing it through to Cristiano Ronaldo just a few meters in front of him. The 28-year old forward found himself with space and already inside Athletic's box, but unlike what he so often does in similar situations, instead of trying his luck from a disadvantaged position he preferred to pick a teammate in the middle. The outcome was a great assist and a not less great finish from Jesé Rodríguez, who scored his 5th goal of the season for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid needed to close the gates at the back in the remaining 25 minutes of the match, but have failed to achieve that when Ibai Gómez released a powerful rocket roughly from 20 yards out, on a rebound coming off a Sergio Ramos header. The Athletic Bilbao midfielder had just come in into the game and didn't show any hesitation when he saw Ramos clearing the ball into a dangerous spot. He immediately raced towards it and fired a bullet that left absolutely no chances for Diego López to reach out to it.
With the 1-1 on the scoreboard and only 15 minutes left on the clock to turn things around, Real Madrid basically succumbed to the pressure and didn't react as they should have. Just 2 minutes after the equalizer was scored, Ronaldo had a misunderstanding with Gurpegi and scratched him in the face after having been pushed on the chest. The Athletic Bilbao defender theatrically felt to the ground and straight after, it was Iturraspe who was already leaning his head over to Ronaldo, as he desperately tried to heat things up even more. The referee misjudged the whole incident by deciding to show a yellow card to Iturraspe and a straight red to Cristiano Ronaldo. The game score wouldn't suffer any further changes in the time that was left and Real Madrid left San Mamés with only 1 point in the bag.
Following last night's sending off, Cristiano Ronaldo might have to go through either a 2 or a 3-game ban, and right now it's still unclear if the he'll will be eligible for this Wednesday's Copa del Rey semi-finals first leg against Atletico Madrid, or if the ban will only concern league games. We'll have to wait a few more hours in order to have more informations on that, since the ban extent (La Liga/Copa del Rey) will depend on the amount of the games of suspension that the Spanish Committee will rule.
Real Madrid line-up vs Athletic Bilbao:
Goalkeeper: Diego López
Defenders: Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Carvajal
Midfielders: Xabi Alonso, Luka Modric, Di María
Attackers: Jesé Rodríguez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema.
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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|---|---|---|
Athletic Bilbao
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vs
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Real Madrid
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1 |
Goals |
1 |
9 |
Shots |
10 |
3 |
Shots on goal |
3 |
5 |
Corner kicks |
4 |
12 |
Fouls commited |
14 |
1 |
Yellow cards |
2 |
0 |
Red cards |
1 |
58% |
Ball possession |
42% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Real Madrid will be against Atletico Madrid, next Wednesday night, for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals (February 5, 2014). You can watch Juventus live stream, Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid, Barcelona vs Real Sociedad, Manchester City vs Chelsea and Fulham vs Sheffield United, all matches provided from our soccer live section.
Real Madrid next game:
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid kick-off time (05-02-2014):
Jakarta (Indonesia) | GMT+7: 02:00
Spain (Madrid) | GMT+1: 20:00
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | GMT+0: 19:00
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | GMT-2: 17:00
New York (United States) | GMT-5: 14:00
Los Angeles (United States) | GMT-8: 11:00
Beijing (China) | GMT+8: 03:00
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / goal.com / bbc.co.uk
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