Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia: LaLiga result, goals, match report
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Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia: match report
Real Madrid dropped their first points of the season after a game at the Santiago Bernabeu that is an early contender for the game of the season. 100 days after winning the league, they received their trophy but will need to improve on their defending and finishing if they have ambitions to win a second consecutive Liga trophy.
Marcelino was adamant that his Valencia side were travelling to Madrid to compete and leave with at least a point. "We’re tremendously excited and are ambitious about getting a good result," he said in the press conference before the game.
It looked like that ambition was ill-placed when Marco Asensio opened the scoring after 10 minutes with a left-footed strike from outside the box. The kind of strike that is becoming his trademark.
Valencia, however, stuck to the gameplan and a gesture from Marcelino to his players from the bench to calm down seemed to work. Carlos Soler had the side levels eight minutes later when Toni Lato made a lovely run down the end line and squared to the unmarked Soler to tap home.
It certainly wasn't the script Real Madrid had been given but Marcelino remained confident. Karim Benzema missed a number of chances late in the second half that kepy Valencia in it, to be fair, but Valencia proved themselves to be a well-disciplined side in the opening 45.
Real Madrid pushed for that go-ahead goal but it was one of Marcelino's debutants who would come up with the goods when Rodrigo poked a ball to Geoffrey Kondogbia in the centre of the penalty area and he side-footed home with just 13 minutes to play.
Sergio Ramos was suspened, as was Ronaldo for that matter, so inspiration was going to have to come from somewhere else if Real Madrid were going to rescue themselves from the jaws of defeat.
It was 21-year-old Marco Asensio, who is show early in his career, a propensity for the big moment who would provide the goal to draw the sides level. Mateo Kovacic drove forward, as he is wont to do, and Carlos Soler pulled him down just outside the penalty area. When Asensio stepped up, it seemed destined to end up in the back of the net. That's exactly where Asensio ran to straight after he curled it home as he was intent on grabbing a winner.
Benzema had a gilt-edged chance that he missed to go with the other half dozen earlier in the game and Marcelo had a penalty appeal turned down when substitute Nacho Vidal caught his shin with his foot but it would have been harsh.
Valencia continued to break with their own ambitions of getting a winner and Zaza had a couple of chances that came to nothing but in the end Marcelino and his side will be content with their trip to the capital as they take a point off the reigning Liga champions in their second game of the season.
Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia live stream online: full time
Real Madrid vs Valencia live stream online: match preview
Real Madrid host old foes Valencia in the Bernabéu with recent history between the sides suggesting there will be a few goals in Madrid. Last season, as Zinedine Zidane’s side inched closer to the Liga title, it was a close encounter of the deferred kind against Los Che that was viewed as key to Real’s tilt, the game having been postponed until April due to the European champions’ involvement in the Club World Cup.
Real edged the week 35 showdown 2-1, which has become a scoreline to be feared when the fixture takes place in Mestalla. In both 2014-15 and 2016-17, precisely after Real had returned from the Fifa knockabout in Japan, Valencia were victorious by that scoreline, terminally denting Carlo Ancelotti’s Liga aspirations but only temporarily raising question marks over Zidane’s. The last eight games between the sides have ended with a minimum of three goals, three 2-2 draws, three 2-1 victories and two 3-2 wins for Real Madrid.
Real Madrid
In just the second game of the season Zidane is already facing a personnel crisis. Cristiano Ronaldo’s moment of madness in the Spanish Super Cup was exacerbated by Sergio Ramos’ 18th Liga red card last weekend at Deportivo and both the prolific striker and club captain will be left to stew in the stands for the visit of Marcelino’s outfit. Raphael Varane failed to make the squad due to a groin injury and Castilla graduate Jesús Vallejo is also sidelined, leaving the Frenchman with just one fit senior central defender in the ever-reliable Nacho.
That will require Zidane to make some emergency adjustments to his back line, with defensive midfielder Casemiro the obvious choice to drop into a role he is fairly comfortable with. Mateo Kovacic should be available again after recovering from a knock, providing the makeshift centre of Zidane’s rearguard with an extra layer of cover behind the roving duo of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.
Up front, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema will fly the flag for the BBC with one of Isco or Marco Asensio deputising for Ronaldo.
Valencia
Five years after Unai “third place” Emery was hounded out of Mestalla for consistently delivering Champions League football with considerable swagger, Valencia have finally found a replacement with similar qualifications in football alchemy. Marcelino García Toral’s recent exploits with Villarreal – promotion from Segunda at the first attempt, three top-six finished in Primera and a run to the 2015-16 Europa League semi-finals – persuaded the Mestalla money men to hire the former Levante midfielder and to allow him to shape the squad in his image.
Financial restraints were never going to allow Marcelino to rub shoulders with the big-spenders but neither has the Valencia boss been reduced to sweet charity. A permanent deal for Simone Zaza - who opened the scoring the last time the sides met - was an astute piece of business, the prodigal Italian son seemingly settled on the East Coast and scoring the only goal of the game in Valencia’s opening day win over Las Palmas. Marcelino also moved quickly to cover for the losses of Joao Cancelo, Diego Alves and Enzo Pérez with a double loan swoop for Inter pair Jeison Murillo and Geoffrey Kondogbia and Juve keeper Neto in addition to picking up Nemanja Maksimovic on a free from Astana.
Valencia have been a motley crew for some seasons but a base of old hands like Dani Parejo, Rodrigo, Santi Mina and José Luis Gayá, a former Madrid target who will miss this one through injury, and some exciting new blood appear to have the makings of a coherent squad. Under the magician’s hand of Marcelino, Valencia could make a bid for the top six of the season, a road map that will be put to the test in the Bernabéu against Zidane’s all-conquering but weakened Liga champions.
Real Madrid – Valencia live stream online: possible line-ups
Real Madrid XI: Navas; Carvajal, Nacho, Casemiro, Marcelo; Kovacic, Kroos, Modric; Isco, Benzema, Bale.
Coach: Zinedine Zidane
Valencia XI: Neto; Vezo, Maksimovic, Vidal, Garay; Medrán, Soler, Parejo, Orellana; Rodrigo, Zaza.
Coach: Marcelino
Real Madrid – Valencia live stream online: selected betting odds
Valencia are priced at 14/1 to put one over on the champions, with the draw chalked up at 7/1 and Real at 1/6 to claim victory. In the scorer stakes Karim Benzema leads the way at 11/4 with Gareth Bale at 4/1 and Simone Zaza at 12/1.