Real Madrid Missed Another Chance To Lead the Table

        

Real Madrid remain in third place in La Liga after being held to a 1-1 draw by Athletic Bilbao on Sunday night at San Mamés in Bilbao. A second half Jesé goal was later cancelled out by an Ibai wondergoal, while Cristiano Ronaldo saw red in a missed opportunity for Los Blancos to move up to second place past Barcelona who were losers on Saturday to Valencia.Manager Carlo Ancelotti opted to go with Jesé in attack rather than the dinged-up Gareth Bale, and so the former Castilla man joined Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in attack for Los Blancos. In midfield, Ángel di María slotted in with Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric while Dani Carvajal, Pepe, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo were charged with helping goalkeeper Diego López keep a clean sheet.

Unlike previous years’ encounters at the San Mamés when the hosts would be the ones to come out the aggressor, this time it was Real who surged forward in the early going and nearly scored through chances from Ronaldo and Di María in just the first two minutes.But Athletic sustained the early Real pressure and started working their way into the proceedings and had several goal-scoring chances of their own with Aritz Aduriz, Ander Hererra and Iker Muniain all testing the Real defense in a flurry of chances between the 16th and 19th minutes. The Lions continued to dominate through the end of the first half and retreated to the dressing room at halftime amid a standing ovation from the boisterous home supporters.

The stalemate continued well into the second half with both teams still probing to break the deadlock, but it would not come until the 64th minute as Ancelotti’s decision to start Jesé paid dividends with a goal. A rare error from Ander Iturraspe led to Di María starting a break that ultimately saw Ronaldo feed in a ball from the left to Jesé. The youngster was able to split through two Athletic defenders and spear the ball past Athletic goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz to make it 1-0 to the visitors. It was Jesé’s fifth goal of the season to go along with his five assists. But the goal only served to light a fire under Athletic and nine minutes later Ibai, who had just come on the pitch, scored on his first touch by charging onto an attempted Real clearance and firing an absolute laser that went screaming across goal and slammed off the far post and into the net.

Things went from bad to worse for Real a minute later in the 74th minute when Ronaldo was sent off with a straight red card for the first time since January 24, 2010. Ronaldo and Athletic’s Carlos Gurpegi bumped chests and the hand of the Portuguese superstar struck the face of the Athletic captain. It did not look like it was a pure punch, but rather a swipe across the face that could have been interpreted as either being accidental or intentional. In any event, it was enough to earn Ronaldo his walking papers much to the delight of the home fans.

A winner on either side was not to be had as Real will now prep for their midweek Copa del Rey clash against new league leaders Atlético Madrid.