Real Madrid-Elche Madrid celebrates a bad draw

Levante, Espanyol, Osasuna, Cádiz and Getafe have taken points away from Madrid this year. More the Elche, who was in a trice to do something never seen before, win at the Bernabéu. Too many stumbles against same-sized teams for it to look like an accident. Madrid regulates too much when it does not sense danger and this League does not tolerate it. Because in this also the imponderables weigh: that Benzema misses a penalty, that he gets injured, that Badía dressed as a superhero, that out of 23 shots only two enter… What football always was, that comes without an instruction manual.

A calculation error began to spoil everything with Hazard. You can only get to Madrid from scratch, physically and mentally, because there is no room for complacency at the club. To this must be attributed the 34 leagues and 13 European Cups. Anyone who has passed through there knows that there is no murmur more disturbing than that of the Bernabéu. Even Gento suffered it, the most multi-winning soccer player in history and who was respectfully cried this Sunday by fans who, for the most part, never saw him play, but who played wonderfully by ear. Two and a half years after his arrival, Ancelotti gave Hazard the opportunity to prove again that he is not a fraud. Of course, already out of his place, which he lost because Vinicius does not wait for anyone, but in a vacancy through which many have passed and no one remains. But the rehabilitation plan, if there is one, will be slow. There was a world crack there and there are more and more doubts about whether he will return.

Hazard played in favor of the work: a worthy but modest opponent, at home, with a saving goal in Elche (Madrid is capable of making anything epic, even a minimal victory at Martínez Valero) in the memory… Not for those Madrid saved for the band work, the one in which no one has run more and better than Gento, Vinicius territory now, and for Benzema, a footballer previously acclaimed by the guild (with the disgraceful exception of Mourinho) than by the stands. A footballer who took too long to be suitable for all audiences.

Heroic Badia

At this point it can be said that the party never changed hands. If anything intensity. Madrid tightens and loosens. Do not expect that with the age of its midfielders, founders of the model, it will break the speedometer. It is enough for him to gust to decide. And so the first half went. Madrid was sprinkling occasions, spaced but well constructed, that they placed Badía in the center of the scene. He took out a Vinicius, who was embroidering dribbles until he reached his beard; another to Benzema, after impossible control of a ball that hit him through the rear-view mirror, and a last one to Casemiro, with his foot because with any other part of the body he would not have arrived in time. Then De Burgos saw a penalty against Vinicius, of course, after taking a previous foul on Pere Milla. Benzema did justice by sending his shot to the crossroads of Padre Damián and Rafael Salgado streets.

Francisco, from a distance (he stayed in Elche because he is still positive), kept his two points. It seemed like a fit of optimism, but it wasn’t. On the verge of rest, Mojica (magnificent him and magnificent Palacios on the other band), poorly guarded by Hazard, made way for Fidel, who had relieved the injured Morente, and his center was headed unopposed by the best of the Lucas, Boyé. The game was not going that way, but Madrid was forced to make another comeback. Before going to the break Badía had time to save another four, Mendy, Benzema, Kroos and Casemiro. Madrid had played to score goals and left worried.

The return didn’t change anything. Madrid was in charge, Elche resisted and De Burgos kept screwing up. He saw a penalty in a mini-push from Diego González to Hazard. The VAR took him out of the clear error and he missed the norm. It is also not true that the bell is not rung if there is contact. At least today. We’ll see it tomorrow.

Soldier, decisive

Benzema’s injury was also included in the accident report. He lent a hand to the hamstrings and the Bernabéu both to the head. The match was no longer the same. Madrid was rushed and the tic of hanging balls to nowhere appeared. Bad solution because Verdú and Diego González know it all and because without the French nobody stays calm in the area.

Ancelotti touched some keys, including the drawing, with a jump to 4-2-3-1, with Rodrygo on the right and Hazard in the midfielder, where it best hides its narrowness in the physical. It didn’t work either.

And Elche, who had decided to finish in their area, scored an extraordinary goal on the contrary. A great maneuver by Lucas Boyé ended with a pass to Pere Milla, forever a hero of promotion, who did not lose his cool and beat Courtois. And after the success, the error. Milla jumped with open arms in a corner and the VAR caught him. Nor was De Burgos ready in this. Modric transformed it and gave way to a final assault by Madrid that, like Wednesday, almost ended in conquest. With a header from Militao, in discount time, he reached the tie. An attack of faith that balanced the excess of confidence against an Elche that reminded the leader, great with the greats, that this League belongs to everyone.