Real Madrid had an important mid-week La Liga match at Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium vs Athletic Bilbao. We have the player ratings.
Real Madrid was coming to tonight’s match against Athletic Bilbao with renewed confidence after winning three consecutive matches between La Liga and the Champions League. A new victory in La Liga would confirm their full recovery without question but their rival in turn wasn’t easy to beat. Fortunately for Zidane and his crew, Raul Garcia woke up feeling generous towards Real Madrid.
The veteran got booked twice before the 12th minute of the game to leave his teammates without one field player. This marked the outcome of the game for the remainder of the 90 minutes. At the end of the first half, Toni Kroos opened the scoreboard with one of his familiar shots from a distance to give his side an advantage before half time. However, Athletic Bilbao wasn’t going to allow the locals to get away with an easy victory.
Benzema seals the win with a double.
Right after the break, Capa scored the equalizer in an unexpected counter-attack for Athletic Bilbao to give the game a little more excitement. This paved the way for a complicated second half that made all Real Madrid players struggle to get the result. Near the end of the game, Karim Benzema appeared with a header to give Real the advantage.
But the most important moment of the game came during the final minutes after Courtois made a save that allowed Benzema to score his second goal of the evening. It was a round evening for the Frenchman, who returns to good form in perfect timing. With this victory, Real Madrid shares the top of the table with Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid. However, the Colchoneros still have two pending matches left to play.
Player ratings
Real Madrid: Courtois (8), Mendy (7), Ramos (7), Varane (6), Carvajal (7), Valverde (6), Kroos (8), Modric (7), Lucas (7), Vinicius (6), Benzema (9).
Bench: Asensio (6), Isco (6), Rodrygo (5).
Athletic Bilbao: Simon (6), Marcos (5), Yuri (6), Martinez (6), Capa (7), Yeray (6), R. Garcia (4), D. Garcia (5), Vencedor (5), Williams (5), Berenguer (6).
Bench: Cordoba (5), Vesga (5), Villalibre (5), Lekue (5), Muniain (5).
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