This late match of the 12th day of La Liga was played this Friday evening. On the pitch of a team at the bottom of the table, Real Madrid expected to make its status known for its first in 2025. The team coached by Carlo Ancelotti, however, experienced a very complicated encounter on the pitch of Valencia CF. The locals opened the scoring very early.
In the second half, the Merengue missed a penalty and saw a goal from Kylian Mbappé disallowed, before Vinicius Junior was sent off. However, they turned everything around in a few moments. Luka Modric and Jude Bellingham allowed their team to snatch victory and temporarily take control of La Liga (1-2). A look back at the notes of Madrid players!
Even if he did not keep a clean sheet, Thibaut Courtois delivered a great performance with Real Madrid. Madrid’s last rampart has long pushed back the deadline. He made two saves, in quick succession, in the 7th minute of play. And that’s not all, since he won a face-off just before the quarter of an hour of play.
On the home side’s opening score (27th), Thibaut Courtois made a nice save, but the ball came back to Hugo Duro, who just had to push the ball into the back of the net. He is saved by his amount in the last seconds. He therefore remains a great architect of this success on the line.
Lucas Vazquez shows two faces at the right back position. Offensively, the Real Madrid captain knows how to contribute. He came close to making an assist in the 5th minute of play, but Federico Valverde’s shot was blocked.
It is especially on the defensive level that we expect a full-back. And here, Lucas Vazquez has a lot more trouble. He was put in great difficulty by his opponents, like in the 7th or 23rd minute of play, where he was fooled too easily. He nevertheless made a big comeback at the end of the match, before his team took the advantage.
We feel that Aurélien Tchouaméni is still not comfortable in a position that is not really his. The training environment continues to help out in the central hinge. And the matches follow one another and are similar. It is far from reassuring. Even if he won a few important duels at the start of the match (3rd and 11th), he had difficulty finding his place. He could still have helped his team get back into the match, with a superb cross in the 67th minute of play.
Antonio Rüdiger must be the leader of this Madrid rearguard. The German central defender, however, did not set an example this Friday evening. His placement leaves something to be desired on the opening score for Valence CF. He is not well aligned with the rest of Madrid’s defenders.
After missing Real Madrid’s last four games, Ferland Mendy returned to the starting lineup for this trip to Valencia. And it was very complicated for the French side.
With little help from his teammates, he often found himself alone in his hallway. He is late on the cross which leads to the opening score for the locals, but because he was on another player before. He didn’t contribute much offensively. Edward Camavinga (NN) took his place for the last 25 minutes.
He was not often able to demonstrate his quality of passing. Dani Ceballos found himself defending too often and did not get much help from his attackers. Not having the same volume as Federico Valverde, he had more difficulty standing out.
On certain actions, he was still able to find a good pass between the lines. This is particularly the case two minutes before the break, but Vinicius Junior misses his face-to-face. Luka Modric (NN) replaces him for the last ten minutes. He equalizes a few moments after his appearance.
It must have been a long evening for Federico Valverde. The Uruguayan midfielder did not skimp on his efforts during this match. With little help from offensive players, he was hard at work defending. He could even have opened the scoring in the 5th minute of play, but his shot was stopped. He took his chance other times afterwards, without finding the target.
He didn’t really know how to stand out in this meeting. Apart from a header that went over in the 67th minute of play, Rodrygo didn’t have much to eat. The Brazilian winger also lost the ball on the opening score for Valence CF (27th). It will be replaced by Brahim Diaz(NN) for the last 20 minutes.
In good shape at the end of 2024, Jude Bellingham hoped to start this new year as well. It got off to a bad start, as he missed his penalty in the 55th minute of play.
He recovered well by finding a marvelous pass for Kylian Mbappé four minutes later, but the French striker’s goal was refused. It’s only a postponement. He offers a caviar to Luka Modric in the 85th minute of play which equalizes. It’s not over, since he takes advantage of an error from the opposing defense to score the winning goal at the end of the match (90th + 6).
He leaves his place to Raul Asencio (NN) in the process.
Under the whistles of the Mestalla throughout the match, Vinicius Junior had a very complicated evening. However, he responded in the best possible way by showing himself on Madrid’s offensives. From the start (5th), he makes a nice feint and allows Lucas Vazquez to find a good cross.
Just before the break, he missed a face-off which could have allowed the Merengue to equalize. The Brazilian winger gave a lot and recovered a few balls, like the one which took the penalty obtained by Kylian Mbappé (52nd). However, he responded to a provocation from the opposing goalkeeper and was excluded after the VAR call (79th). His team nevertheless managed to turn the situation around after his exit.
Kylian Mbappé is gradually regaining all his abilities. He demonstrated it with his big acceleration to obtain a penalty in the 52nd minute of play. And this was also the case with a sublime goal scored just before the hour mark. An achievement which was however refused. He could have had a better grade, with a little more success.
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