Real suffer their 6th defeat of the season
Coach Zidane made several changes from last weekend
Ronaldo is still absent with an ankle sprain
Sevilla 3 – 2 Real Madrid (09 May 2018)
Real Madrid suffered their sixth defeat of the season against a very lively and enterprising Sevilla on Wednesday night. Real have only won 2 of the last five games and drawn the other two. They trail newly crowned champions Barça by a massive 18 points with two games to play. Los Blancos are third behind Atlético Madrid who they could have overtaken with a win on the night.
Real Madrid were still missing their injured star striker Cristiano Ronaldo but Zidane chose to rest his key players Tony Kross, Lukas Modric, Marcelo and Gareth Bale. Kovacic, Casemiro and Ceballos occupied the midfield together with Asensio on the left and Vazquez often far up the right-wing. But the Madrid B team was not at all on the level of their well-organized hosts and they managed only 4 shots on target in the entire game.
Madrid’s defence fell apart again as they conceded 3 more goals to make that 42 goals conceded so far this season, more than double the amount conceded by the league’s best defence, Atlético Madrid with 20. In comparison, Champions Barça have conceded only 23 goals so far.
Madrid enjoyed 65% possession but without their best striker Cristiano Ronaldo, they had no clear target to aim for in the box. Madrid’s attack of Benzema, Vazquez and Asensio lacked creativity and they were not able to create any serious chances in the first 45 minutes. In fact, Kovacic attempted a shot that was narrowly wide of the Sevilla goal and that was about all they could produce in the first half.
Madrid conceded the first goal after only 26 minutes. A long ball from the back was headed on by Luis Muriel into the path of Ben Yedder who expertly converted under Casilla – who was in for first choice keeper Keylor Navas. Real were caught napping. Sergio Ramos did not cover and Nacho, in place of Varane who was also rested, was too slow to block the shot.
On the stroke of half time they conceded the second. Real’s defence was again caught by a through ball on the right. The ball was then played across to N’zonzi arriving on the edge of the box and he his shot was blocked by Sergi Ramos, but he managed to retrieve the ball and square it to the unmarked Layún to side foot into an empty goal. Diabolical defending again by Real.
The second half was a more disputed affair and Zidane manged to get the team back on track and they played a more direct game but still could not convert their chances. Madrid then missed several chances, notably a great one by Sergio Ramos onto the crossbar from 8-yards and Casemiro sent a powerful shot from distance but it was just wide of the left upright.
Sevilla killed off the game in the 84th minute and Madrid were again at fault. This time it was Hernandez, the left-back, who did not cover the run of right-back Mercado. Mercado raced into the box and blasted a fierce shot towards goal from a narrow angle and to his fortune the ball deflected viciously off Sergio Ramos for the third goal.
Real scored consolation goals through substitute Moyoral on 87 minutes and Sergio Ramos from the penalty spot in injury-time. It was too little too late. The game was already over and Sevilla climb to seventh place with the win. Real have two games left to play and are guaranteed to finish in the top three. They will face Liverpool in the Champions League final on the 26th May.
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