Berlin (DPA/Stats Perform)
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti refused to target Karim Benzema for criticism after he missed the opportunity to score from a penalty kick, in the match that ended in a 1-1 draw with its guest Osasuna in the seventh stage of the Spanish League.
Real Madrid dropped two points for the first time in the season, winning all of their past six league matches.
Despite the return of Benzema after an absence of three weeks due to injury, Real Madrid did not appear at its usual level in yesterday’s match.
Real advanced with a goal scored by Vinicius Junior in the 42nd minute, but Osasuna equalized through Enrique Garcia Kiki in the 50th minute and Karim Benzema had the opportunity to decide the match for Real Madrid and achieve the seventh successive victory, when the team received a penalty kick with David Garcia expelled from the ranks of Osasuna. Benzema took the penalty in the 78th minute, but he hit a ball that hit the crossbar.
Despite the numerical shortage, Osasuna kept the tie until the end of the match to collect a valuable point at the Real Madrid stadium.
Benzema missed three penalty kicks this year against Osasuna, who is coached by Jagoba Araste, as he had missed the scoring from two penalties in the two teams’ match on April 20 in the thirty-third stage of last season’s league. Ancelotti refused to blame Benzema for the tie, and confirmed that Real’s performance was not bad, and said in statements to the “Dazon” platform: “Karim usually scores.”
“The match was not great, but after the goal we received, the team played as required,” Ancelotti added.
“Karim has no problem starting the game for the whole 90 minutes,” he said. He is supposed to get back to his best level by playing.” He continued, “This is a footballing accident, it can happen sometimes. We were solid in defence, we balanced well and blocked the counter-attack a lot.” Since the beginning of last season, Osasuna has drawn with Real Madrid three times, outperforming all other teams in the Spanish League.
Real Madrid raised its score to 19 points in second place, with a goal difference only behind its arch-rivals Barcelona, who beat Real Mallorca 1-0 yesterday, Saturday, in the same stage.