Defeated by Liverpool and held by Rayo Vallecano just before the international break, Real Madrid hoped to raise their heads this Sunday evening on the Elche pitch for the 13th day. Faced with an opponent also in difficulty – Eder Sarabia’s men remained in five games without a victory in La Liga – the Merengues presented themselves in 3-4-3 with an attacking trio made up of Bellingham, Rodrygo and MbappĂ©, who remained in two games without scoring with the Merengue club. Under pressure after FC Barcelona’s victory against Athletic Bilbao (4-0), the Madrid team therefore had to win to regain first place.
Real upset and logically surprised
In the first minutes, Xabi Alonso’s flock failed to get the match going. Embarrassed by the intensity of the locals and guilty of a certain technical waste, Real did not create any clear opportunities, apart from this off-target shot from Kylian MbappĂ© (11th). For its part, Elche played every shot to the fullest and logically made Casa Blanca doubt. Under the eyes of Valverde, Camavinga and VinĂcius JĂşnior – all substitutes at kick-off – the Merengue club even came close to being penalized. After another ball lost by Carreras, Rafa Mir, found in the area, took his chance, but came up against an already decisive Courtois (17th). In difficulty and uninspired collectively, Real then took advantage of set pieces to stand out, but Asencio did not fit (20th).
The only satisfaction from a mixed start to the match was that GĂĽler also lit a first fuse, but his attempt grazed the opposing crossbar (25th). Active in the heart of the game, the Turk then launched MbappĂ©, but the latter lost his duel against Iñaki Peña (30th). Decisive, the former Barça goalkeeper was again a few seconds later by pushing back the recovery of number 10 Merengue (33rd). Despite a certain increase in power, the visitors suffered numerous scares defensively – like this new strike from AndrĂ© Silva, repelled by Courtois (38th) – and logically returned empty-handed at the break. Returning from the locker room, Xabi Alonso retained his starting frame, Rodrygo, displaced by MbappĂ©, armed in his turn (47th) but the scoreboard still did not move. At least not in favor of the Merengues…
Bellingham limits damage
Uninhibited and far from being impressed by their evening opponent, Elche actually took the lead. On a brilliant inspiration from German Valera, Aleix Febas, to the left of the area, crossed his shot low to the ground with his right foot and scored with the help of the opposite post (1-0, 53rd). An opening score provoking the immediate reaction of the Madrid technician with the entries into play of VinĂcius Jr., Valverde, Camavinga (58th) then Gonzalo Garcia (64th). So many changes which, however, changed nothing in the appearance of this meeting. Incapable of being dangerous, like a MbappĂ© who is not very visible and an individualistic VinĂcius, and fragile defensively – the performance of Trent Alexander-Arnold can only confirm this – Real Madrid could not find the solution.
We ultimately had to wait until the last minutes of this match to see the visitors react. On a set piece poorly managed by Elche and deflected by Bellingham, Huijsen extended the trajectory of the leather to equalize upwind (1-1, 78th). A goal which, however, did not completely wake up the Madrilenians who were still too uninspired. Worse still, on a sparkling rush from the new arrival Alvaro Rodriguez, trained within the Madrid club, Casa Blanca cracked again (2-1, 84th). Stunned, Courtois’ teammates were still going to come back straight away. After an off-target shot from Bellingham, MbappĂ© pulled away and found the English international, who finished upwind (2-2, 87th). In added time, Gonzalo Garcia, alone in front of the goal, missed the match point… (90+4th). With this result (2-2), the Merengues confirm their bad patch, but regain first place from Barça while their opponent of the evening moves up to 11th place.
