Although normally the queues tend to disaster in the big events, the endless line of fans of Unionistas de Salamanca that swirled around the Helmántico Stadium that gives access to Las Pistas hours before the start of the match against Madrid saved their place. Although there was some fearful at the time, progressively the human snake was adorning the interior of the facilities, as in a kind of coral invasion. “Where is the mayor? Where is the mayor? ”, Chanted some of the first fans to enter, referring to the pressure received by the city’s chief executive for the meeting to be held at the Helmántico, with four times more capacity (17,000 by 4,000 seats ) and just 50 meters. The party took place in Las Pistas, and there Madrid, except for the scare of the momentary draw, solved the crossroads with a goal from the mysterious Bale (who did not celebrate) and two from Brahim.
USL
RMA
Unionists CF
Brais Pereiro, Góngora, Ayoze (Matthieu Amouzou, min. 86), Piojo, Iñigo Zubiri, Javi Navas (Diego González, min. 79), José Ángel, Guille Andrés, David Gallego, Carlos de la Nava and Iván Garrido (Álvaro Romero , min. 54).
Real Madrid
Areola, Carvajal, Marcelo, Eder Militao, Nacho, James (Isco, min. 79), Casemiro, Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior, Benzema (Jovic, min. 74) and Bale (Brahim Diaz, min. 52).
0-1 min. 17: Bale. 1-1 min. 56: Álvaro Romero. 1-2 min. 61: Góngora (pp). 1-3 min. 91: Brahim Diaz.
Álvaro Romero (min. 67).
Stadium:Helmántico Stadium Annex
It would be due to the circumstances surrounding the game, that return to the origins of the most basic and authentic football, that Zinedine Zidane did not want to experiment too much and handed over the baton of the team to the majority of the fixed available. Apart from the presence of Areola in the goal, the entrance of players such as James, Bale, Nacho and Vinicius, with a poster of securitized in the not too distant past, he unmasked the fear of an encounter so atypical that it could even infect the outcome.
It is true that to play football you only need one ball and two goals. However, to survive in adverse conditions many things are necessary that move away from glamor and appeal to sentiment. Madrid came out determined to resolve the ballot in the first rounds, as if they did not want their rival to find faith as the minutes passed. Well ordered, the Unionistas resisted the first bars, the first races, those that serve to fill the piggy bank with confidence. However, on a poor clearance from the head inside the small area, the ball fell on Bale’s right boot and his volley shot slipped past Brais Pereiro’s left post. The apathetic Welshman didn’t even celebrate. Rather, he drew a gesture of regret.
If before Melero López signaled the start of the game from the speakers of Las Pistas Ska-P and his iconic Worker’s waltz —With more volume when Madrid jumped to warm up—, throughout the match, except for minute 23, when the anthem of the late UD Salamanca was shouted loudly, the charro fans believed that it could be done. The rage of the local technician Jabi Luaces, when the Góngora centers could not find Garrido’s head, they breathed air into David. Even if Goliath, Dressed in green, with orderly play and no stumbling mood, he spun passes and passes and searched again and again for Bale. With the help of James, who crashed the ball off the crossbar after a good personal move, Madrid intimidated Unionistas in their own way, who despite everything did not lose face to the game.
The draw reward
Madrid’s mallet this season is still far from forcefulness, so despite his presence and work as a great team, his lack of goal continues to give opportunities to anyone who refuses to lower his head. The Salamanca team did not do it, nor did its fans, who filled their stomach with empanada at half-time, and clarified their voice with water to continue accompanying their team on this journey through the desert that the game had become.
The Unionistas did not fear their fate, trying to befriend the greatest rival that has passed through their house, with their heads held high and their hearts in their mouths. And that daring had its reward in the form of a goal, with a play of enormous skill by Álvaro Romero. The little Unionistas player (he measures only 147 centimeters), picked up a bad clearance from Marcelo and after changing direction with two waist movements sent the ball to the back of Areola’s goal. That affront heated the body of Madrid, which reacted thanks again to a lucky goal, this time from Brahim, whom Zidane trusted after weeks of ostracism. In injury time he rounded off his comeback with a second goal from a low shot. By then Bale had been replaced, again with physical problems.
“Very good guys! We have stood up! ”. The public’s gratitude to their players once the duel was over was like that caress that soothes but does not console. They also believed that the challenge was salvageable, but although the defeat was the result of their effort, no one will ever take away the merit of having conversed in the same tone with Madrid at Las Pistas.
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