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23.08.2015 » Sporting Gijón 0-0 Real Madrid. Bad start for Benítez and his men
Spurned chances were aplenty in Gijon, as the newly promoted hometown team kept Real Madrid at bay, in the first fixture of the La Liga season for Los Meregues. The 0-0 was a bad result for Madrid, as Barcelona squeezed pass in their earlier fixture against Athletic Bilbao. With these outcomes, Rafa Benítez's men are already 2 points behind their rivals in the race for the Spanish League. From the first minute in tonight's game, Sporting Gijón showed that they were up for the match, pressing Real Madrid at times and even getting some opportunities on goal for themselves. Cristiano Ronaldo didn't put on the level of performance he got us used to, but to tell the truth, few were the players in Madrid's side who did.
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Sporting Gijon vs Real Madrid
Sporting Gijón 0-0 Real Madrid - Goals and highlights:
All Cristiano Ronaldo actions vs Sporting Gijón:
Real Madrid lined up with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Bale being given the number "10" role right behind Jese. And by and large, the formation allowed Gareth Bale a lot more freedom to roam. It was apparent in the first half, as he switched positions constantly and found himself in acres of space.
Bale would eventually have the best chance of the game... A Luka Modric through ball penetrated the Sporting Gijon defense and found the feet of Bale. The Welshman quickly dribbled past the goalkeeper, but his following shot crashed into the side netting.
Sporting Gijon would almost grab the lead too, after a header from Sanabria crashed off the crossbar and bounced on the line. Admittedly, it seemed close to a goal, but replays would show it was just out... Instants later, Real Madrid would be claiming for a penalty-kick after seeing Cristiano Ronaldo going down inside Gijón's box, in a play where the Portuguese forward was pulled by the arm by Sergio Alvarez.
In the second half Benitez tried to adapt, throwing on James Rodriguez in search of a goal. But time and time again, Madrid would continue to fall short. The finishing was lacking, Ronaldo was not his usually sharp self and Sporting Gijón seemed to grow in confidence with each shot that went wide or was parried by the keeper. Despite all that, CR7 was still voted Madrid's 2nd most valuable player on SofaScore's rating system, as he earned 7.8 points and only stood behind Modric with 8.2.
Real Madrid seemed to grow more frustrated as well as time went by, pressing more and rushing in attack, but try as they might, Sporting Gijón was determined not to fold this Saturday everning. Eventually the referee would blow the final whistle and the game would end 0-0.
Not exactly the best of starts for Rafa Benitez's men, but it's only the first game of the season and he will need more time to figure it out. What was alarming however, was the lack of cohesion up top, Karim Benzema can't come back soon enough!
Author: Terrance Ross
Real Madrid line-up vs Sporting Gijón:
Goalkeeper: Navas
Defenders: Marcelo, Ramos, Varane, Danilo
Midfielders: Kroos, Modric, Isco
Attackers: Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jesé Rodríguez.
| Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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|---|---|---|
Sporting Gijón
|
vs
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Real Madrid
|
2 |
Goals |
1 |
4 |
Shots |
22 |
0 |
Shots on goal |
8 |
2 |
Corner kicks |
5 |
20 |
Fouls commited |
4 |
4 |
Yellow cards |
0 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
32% |
Ball possession |
68% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Real Madrid will be on the 29th of August of 2015, against Betis. You can watch Juventus live stream, Real Madrid vs Betis, Barcelona vs Malaga, Malmo vs Celtic, Monaco vs Valencia, and Bayer Leverkusen vs Lazio, all matches provided from our football streaming pages.
Real Madrid next game:
Real Madrid vs Betis kick-off time (29-08-2015):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 04:30
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+7: 03:30
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 02:00
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+2: 22:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+1: 21:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 17:30
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 16:30
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 13:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / realmadrid.com / bbc.com / theguardian.com / goal.com
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