Real Madrid lost a first title for the 2020/21 season. A day after Barcelona advanced to the Super Cup final, Real Madrid hoped tonight (Thursday) to get the second ticket, but the Spanish champions lost 2: 1 to Athletic Bilbao. A pair of Raoul Garcia won the game and sent home the trophy holder empty-handed. The final game will be held this coming Sunday (17.1, 21:50, live broadcast in Sports 4)
Both teams came into the match after disappointing results. Real ended in a zero-sum draw against Ossona in the league, with Bilbao losing 3: 2 to Barça. The Spanish media reported a big blow to Zinedine Zidane ahead of the opening whistle, following an injury to Sergio Ramos in the warm-up, but the captain received the treatment and went up in his coach’s squad for the important “knockout” game.
Another player who received a lot of attention is Eden Hazard, on whom many hopes hung in Madrid after recovering from another injury and starting in the squad alongside Marco Asensio and the team’s king of goals, Karim Benzema. On the other hand, Inaki Williams and Garcia opened the scoring for Marcelino, who has coached Bilbao for just ten days but has already recorded a highly prestigious victory for him.
As in previous times in the last two seasons, the Czar did not live up to expectations and failed to bring his familiar qualities to the grass. The players in red and white started the game well, and in the 18th minute Danny Garcia sent a deep ball, Williams allowed the ball to reach Raul Garcia and the veteran player subdued Thibaut Courtois. Exactly twenty minutes later he also completed a double in the game from the penalty spot, this after Lucas Vasquez made a mistake and tripped Inigo Martinez in the box.
In the second half, with her back to the wall, Real Madrid began to put even greater pressure on Onai Simon’s goal. It started with two dangerous Asensio kicks, including one that was poked into the post, and continued with a shrinking goal by Benzema, which was approved after a VAR test. After that, the French striker found the net again, but this time he was certainly different and the precious equality was disqualified.
In the closing minutes and characteristically for him, Ramos rose to the striker position and quite a few height balls were sent to his famous head, who had already done so in the past in those minutes. Unfortunately for the brakeman, the balls he struck only whistled near the frame, and in fact decided the fate of Real Madrid in the game.
