Karim Benzema misses a penalty against Osasuna and Real Madrid loses the lead against Barcelona
Despite the return of the French striker, the absences of the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the Uruguayan Fede Valverde (starting) and the Croatian Luka Modric were too noticeable. He did not have clarity in his game against a team as well armed as Jagoba Arrasate’s and he paid for it with the puncture that left him tied for second with the Barcelona team.
Not even the fact of going ahead before the break with a center-shot from Vinicius Jr. allowed Carlo Ancelotti’s team to tie the match, because Osasuna responded at the beginning of the second period (m.50) with a header from behind by Kike García that caught the Ukrainian goalkeeper Andriy Lunin somewhat ahead.
Then Osasuna was well equipped against a Real Madrid without ideas or precision to overwhelm the network in front of him. In addition, Benzema lacked success. Last season Sergio Herrera saved him two penalties at El Sadar. This time he didn’t need it. The white captain fired hard, high. The ball grazed the crossbar and went wide.
The maximum penalty, decreed after the referee went to the VAR, it also meant the red of David García. In superiority, with a quarter of an hour to go including the extension, Real Madrid increased the pressure and harassment, but in an absolutely ineffective way and blew away the first two points of the campaign.
Dani Ceballos, Real Madrid midfielder, acknowledged that his team was not fine “facing the goal” or “with the ball” and that they lacked “dynamism” in the first game of the season in which they gave up points.
That’s where Benzema crashed his penalty. Confirmed: he is human. pic.twitter.com/c7qYz6dLsZ
– Pablo Giralt (@giraltpablo) October 2, 2022
“We wanted the three points, we tried until the end but we lost two points. We have turned in the last minutes but we have not been able to get the victory, ”he said on Dazn.
“We have not been fine in front of goal, nor with the ball, we have lacked a bit of dynamism. We have another game on Wednesday to face it in a good way, ”he added, already focusing on the duel against Shakhtar in the Champions League after giving up the leadership of LaLiga to Barcelona.
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