Real Madrid, ‘frozen’ against Osasuna

The inclusion of Eden Hazard in company of Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio, was the main novelty of Zinedine Zidane's 4-3-3, which included Lucas Vazquez as a right back instead of the sanctioned Dani carvajal.

In a meeting marked by the snow, which did not stop falling in Pamplona, ​​and the great work done by the Navarrese club operators throughout the day to condition the grass, Real Madrid came out commanding with a possession that came to exceed 80%, but without generating too much danger in the last meters.

Those of Zidane had problems to get the ball since Osasuna covered the exits by bands. Real played and played the ball with long possessions, but found a perfect Navarrese team in pressure, defense and retreat with their 4-1-4-1.

After half an hour of play, Osasuna enjoyed a great chance in a corner kick at the near post that he headed Oier and what ended up clearing Courtois. In Madrid, a Marco Asensio that did not finish connecting with Hazard and Benzema.

Osasuna, locked behind and with the lines very close, complicated the life of Zidane's men in a first half without clear scoring chances by both teams and in which the whites did not shoot a single time between the three sticks for the first time this season.

The second half started with a dangerous cross from Lucas Vazquez that repelled Sergio Herrera with a good hand. The Osasuna goalkeeper also showed off with an extraordinary stretch on Marco Asensio's left-footed shot from the edge of the area (50 ').

Real Madrid could not beat a Osasuna entrenched and kept trying with distant shots, like one of Casemiro that narrowly missed a goal.

In minute 60, the referee, at the request of one of his assistants, annulled Benzema for a clear offside that certified the VAR after a stop by Herrera. With a game more open than in the first half, Madrid stepped on the area more, but without finding the goal. Zidane sought to give the game a ‘turn’ and readjusted his system to a 4-4-2 with the entry of Valverde by an Asensio that had been intoned after the break. Osasuna continued to close the spaces very well and Roberto Torres he scared the meringues with a shot in the area that went high.

In the final stretch, Zidane began desperately looking for solutions with the entrance to Isco and Mariano by Hazard and Modric. Osasuna also moved the bench with the entry of Jony and Budimir. Two minutes to go the referee annulled a new goal against Real Madrid what did he write down Sergio Ramos since both the captain and Benzema they were offside. The merengue team, impotent, could not undo the initial tables and take a step back in their fight for the league title.

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