A wet rainy evening and Santiago Bernabeu was the venue where leaders Real Madrid welcomed relegation battlers Sporting Gijon. It was expected to head only in one direction and only one result was expected as Zinedine Zidane’s men looked to stretch their lead at the top to 7 points with a win.
The match started in a balanced manner but not even five minutes into the game, Lucas Vazquez’s lovely control of the ball saw him lure a defender into the challenge and Real Madrid got awarded a penalty. Ronaldo smoothly put it in the right-hand low corner even though the goalkeeper guessed the right way. Thirteen minutes later, Real doubled their lead as Nacho’s sublime cross found Ronaldo’s header and the Portuguese prodigy also entered into double figures in his individual tally of goals this La Liga season.
Real Madrid conceded after Luka Modric gave the ball away and a whipped cross from the left saw a finish from Carmona. However, the Los Blancos held their lead to take three comfortable points and temporarily stretch their lead at the top to seven massive points. Here’s how they have been rated :-
GK : Keylor Navas – 6/10
Made a couple of good saves and handling had to be good considering the rain. Was helpless as defence let him down and clean-sheet slipped away.
RB : Danilo – 5/10
Suffered throughout the first half as Isma Lopez was all over him. The second half was better than the first. Needs to improve a lot, though.
CB : Sergio Ramos – 6.5/10
Made good clearances and tried an audacious overhead kick in the second half. Overall a decent display from the captain.
CB : Pepe – 6/10
Another solid display in terms of physicality and managed to do enough individually to drag Real over the line.
LB : Nacho – 6.5/10
Provided a gorgeous cross to Ronaldo for Real’s second and got lucky as he didn’t pay the price after conceding the penalty.
