Sevilla came from behind to beat Real Madrid 3-1 and leave Barcelona as La Liga leaders heading into el clásico.
Sergio
Ramos gave Madrid the lead with a stunning bicycle kick in the first
half. But his goal, which also caused a recurrence of the shoulder
injury that has seen him out for nearly a month, only served to spark
the hosts into life.
Ciro Immobile should have equalised minutes
later but couldn’t make contact a yard out, yet shortly after he made
amends as he rifled home from the tightest of angles, but should have
had another when he let a third clear-cut chance pass him by before
half-time.
Madrid had Gareth Bale back from injury and playing at centre-forward, but he and Cristiano Ronaldo endured a difficult night as Sevilla restricted them to shots from distance.
The
Portuguese should have played in Luka Modric when he was through on
goal but instead chose to shoot with Madrid 2-1 down, and minutes later
Fernando Llorente took advantage of the Portuguese’s selfishness to head
home and put the result beyond doubt. James Rodriguez added a
consolation goal in stoppage time.
But what did we learn? Ed Malyon was in Seville
BALE AS A STRIKER?
Denis Doyle
Gareth Bale returned early from injury against Sevilla, with the winger having been left out of the Wales squad due to his calf problem.
He
wasn’t originally expected to be back for Madrid until the clásico but
he was in the starting XI at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán and took up an
unfamiliar number 9 role.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been
filling in there during Karim Benzema’s injury absence with some
success. The Portuguese doesn’t have the searing pace of yesteryear and
his physicality and technique makes him just about one of the best pure
strikers you could hope for.
But he doesn’t want to play there, by all accounts, and as soon as it was feasible we have seen him restored to the left flank.
Denis Doyle
In truth there is plenty of allowance for
interchange between the two of them, but Bale only flashed his ability
as a striker in the first half - with his best work coming in wide
areas.
That one spark through the middle, where he used
his pace and power to drive past two defenders before rifling a shot
into the side netting, gave a frightening insight into what a player
like him could do in that role, but it certainly didn’t come naturally
to him.
On one occasion in the second half he had his
back to goal in the box and attempted to protect the ball, only to be
robbed by the defender. There’s no doubting he could learn to play in
the position but the overwhelming feeling was that Bale is better when
he picks up the ball and there’s grass ahead of him, rather than linking
play and facing his own net.
JUST NACHO DAY
Ruben Albarran/REX
A Real Madrid starter who could probably walk down the streets of the Spanish capital and not be recognised?
That
would be Nacho, the lovable defender who has been pressed into action
by a combination of homegrown player rules and injuries over the last
year or so.
This season in particular he has been a regular, and
Marcelo’s injury has now given him an opportunity to continue his run in
the team - albeit at left-back rather than in the middle.
His
all-action, undoubtedly competent displays have earned him much
affection among the fanbase and coaching staff, but it’s his recent
attacking upturn has caught the imagination.
Despite the
raft of world-class attacking talent on show when Paris Saint-Germain
came to the Bernabeu on Tuesday, it was wee Nacho who volleyed home from
a tight angle, celebrating as if he was as surprised as everyone else.
And
in Seville he was within millimetres of bettering that strike, taking a
cleared corner on the volley from 25 yards and clattering the inside of
the post.
The ball bounced across goal in agonising fashion as his teammates turned around with puzzled looks - “what, you again?!”
SHOULDERING THE BLAME
REUTERS
Nearly as unlikely a man as Nacho to open the scoring was
Sergio Ramos, even if he has quite a handy scoring record for a
centre-back.
The Madrid captain has always been useful from set
pieces, but few were expecting a bicycle kick direct from Madrid’s
first-half corner.
It was a stunning strike, but one that came at a price.
Denis Doyle
Ramos was injured earlier this season when Taras Stepanenko
upended him in the Champions League clash with Shakhar Donetsk. He
landed awkwardly on his shoulder and has only just returned, with Rafa
Benitez giving some fairly ambiguous comments about how fit he actually
is to play.
And when Ramos landed, having heard his acrobatic
effort ripple the net, he immediately knew that he had hurt his shoulder
again.
Substituted just minutes later, he is surely ruled out of
Spain’s upcoming friendlies with England and Belgium but, more
crucially, a doubt for el clásico.
CIRO NO HERO
Denis Doyle
Ciro Immobile became one of Europe’s most in-demand strikers with a sensational run of form at Torino in 2013-14.
But
Juventus, who owned half of the forward, chose to pass on him and let
him join Borussia Dortmund. There were many theories for that, but one
was that he was a bit thick - to be blunt.
Now, missing
two near-open goals doesn’t suggest that’s the case, but his reaction to
scoring - ripping off his shirt and getting booked after only 30-odd
minutes - does somewhat intimate that. As does his general behaviour
afterwards, harassing the linesman to within an inch of a second yellow.
His goal was absolutely crucial but he could have won it single-handedly for them.
Ever
Banega did eventually get Sevilla’s second with a brilliantly-worked
team goal that Yehven Konoplyanka played a huge part in.
And Fernando Llorente came off the bench to head in a third and kill the game.
BEST DEFENCE IN EUROPE… FOR NOW
Denis Doyle
Real Madrid have had the best defence in any of the
top European leagues this season, with Rafa Benitez copping plenty of
criticism for his playing style but making Los Blancos into an organised
and impressive machine.
In some ways, they have
benefited from their glut of injuries as it has meant Benitez has been
able to play the likes of Lucas Vazquez and Casemiro, who are more
diligent in defence than their rivals for the same positions, and leave
Cristiano Ronaldo as a lone striker with 10 men behind the ball.
When
Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale are all fit, there was
no way that Benitez will get the same defensive work-rate from his side
and it has been clear their record would, at some point, begin to slip.
That looks like it might have begun tonight.
Bale
and Ronaldo were marooned on Forwards Island while Sevilla slashed
their teammates to shreds in the second half. PSG could have scored four
or five against Madrid on Tuesday and the same was true in Seville.
