Real needed points as much as they came to Huesca lacking confidence. With Zidane back on the bench after his forced isolation, the defending champion had to correct the situation following this new loss to Levante. Still without Sergio Ramos, who will miss several weeks of competition for knee surgery, nor Militão sent off last weekend, the central defense was still under construction with the presence of Nacho alongside Varane. Odriozola made up for the absence of Carvajal again and it was Vinicius who this time accompanied Benzema and Asensio in front, Hazard again being on the flank. This slightly revamped team started with some pressure on the shoulders.
The start of the match was really complicated for the Madrilenians, like the revival completely missed by Odriozola from his first intervention (1st). The right side was still at fault on the first opportunity of the red lantern (6th) and it is all Real who suffered. This bad period lasted 10 minutes before seeing the players of the capital take control of the meeting. They put their foot on the ball, which was circulating quite well, but the opportunities did not come. Mendy’s breakthroughs did not go to the end, as did the ball forays at the foot of a voluntary Asensio, and the raids of a still messy Vinicius in the game.
Varane’s double
The attempts of the Brazilian (28th), then Benzema (34th) and Casemiro (37th) were not enough to unblock the situation. Powerless dominator, Real Madrid had to do better to hope to make a difference in the second half. Only Huesca returned to the pitch with much better intentions than his opponent. In the space of 5 minutes, the Azulgranas obtained more situations than the combination of the two teams during the first 45 minutes. There was first the post found by Rico (46th), then the opening of the score signed Javier Galán, forgotten at the far post (1-0, 48th). Now led the Merengues narrowly escaped the correctional with this recovery of Rafa Mir on the bar (50th).
Wounded but not killed, the beast from Madrid found the strength to get up. Benzema sent a magnificent full-bar free kick but Varane was the quickest on the ball to equalize as a runner (1-1, 55th). Again tied with their opponent, Real moved forward, while exposing themselves to cons. Courtois even had to put out an incredible parade on the head of Mir (64th), who also grazed the frame later (73rd). These fears passed and despite the wounded exit of Odriozola (68th), Zidane’s troops finished strong. The Huesca goalkeeper made a barely believable stop on his line in front of Benzema (78th), even disgusting the French (82nd). Alvaro Fernandez, on the other hand, could only push back on Varane this stung header from Casemiro, leaving the defender to score a double (1-2, 84th) and offer a success as precious as it is complicated.
