Real Madrid stalls against Osasuna but regains the lead

The Real Madrid came to the game against Osasuna in good time after beating Shakhtar Donetsk and taking the Classic, but he ran into the red wall, in defense of five, and He lacked fluency and ideas in the last meters to break the 0-0.

Third game in a row without winning at the Santiago Bernabéu for Italy’s Carlo Ancelotti, while the rojillos remain undefeated away from El Sadar.

The day dawned cold in Madrid, but it was improving, although the atmosphere inside the Santiago Bernabéu, starting at 9:30 p.m. CEST, with a limit of 50,000 spectators – around 35,000 attended – for the works, and not for the pandemic for the first time since the return of the public, it resembled the first hour of the day in the capital of Spain. And it was transmitted to his team.

Strange for a Real Madrid who returned home after a month and who arrived after turning around the worst moment of the season, with a win in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk (0-5) and the victory in the classic (1-2).

In defense of the Madrid fans, those of Osasuna did make themselves known at the top of the Santiago Bernabéu, it is that the rhythm did not accompany. Ancelotti’s men dominated the ball at will in the first half, with 74 percent possession, but always two or more touches away.

Impossible to thus break the defense of five that Jagoba Arrasate proposed for his visit to the Madrid fiefdom, a plan that, apparently on the pitch, aimed to reach the final moments alive since in the first 45 minutes they only disturbed the Belgian Thibaut Courtois, who played from the beginning after the knee scare against Barcelona , on a high header from Kike García on a corner kick.

At Real Madrid, Brazilian Vinicius Junior was once again the agitator. On the pitch and trying to cheer up the stands in the 15th minute, just after Ancelotti said at the press conference the day before that he should focus less on what was happening in that area.

His was the best chance for the locals, in a cross shot at m.30 that Sergio Herrera cleared for a corner kick. Jon Moncayola was very aware of the extreme, helping Nacho Vidal since they could not leave ‘Vini’ in the one on one that generated the 5-3-2 of Arrasate.

After the break, in which Ancelotti opted for Rodrygo instead of Camavinga, delaying Asensio to the center of the field, to try to give his team verticality, it was Moncayola who was about to be the protagonist. Osasuna counterattack, the first they achieved, at m.50, that the midfielder was about to culminate in a goal, but his forced shot crashed into the post.

This served as a stimulus for Real Madrid, which began to lock Osasuna in their area. In the first half they opted for long shots, and in the second the tactic was the centers used to try to knock down the wall of Pamplona. Right in a lateral send from Rodrygo, running into space, the locals touched 1-0, but his compatriot Vinicius could not get to finish by just a little.

Two minutes later, at m.61, the French Karim Benzema shot of individual quality to try to unclog his ownBut this time rubbing the lamp didn’t help. A scandal pass was invented to ‘Vini’ six minutes later to leave him alone in front of Sergio Herrera, but, in addition to erring in hand-to-hand, the action was canceled for offside.

To desperate situations, desperate measures; Casemiro must have thought. Minute 81 and still 0-0 on the scoreboard, he saw Osasuna’s goalkeeper ahead and shot from his own field. The almost sepulchral silence returned to the Santiago Bernabéu, although this time of tension, but the ball narrowly missed.

Real Madrid kept trying from the band, but without finding a finisher while the Serbian Luka Jovic warmed up on the band without actually participating in the game.

A point that leaves the provisional leader to Ancelotti’s men, but waiting for what Real Sociedad to do on Thursday at Celta de Vigo’s home. For its part, Osasuna is placed in sixth position and remains undefeated away from its stadium, with four wins and a draw.