Militão touches the ball with his hand against Diego Carlos this Sunday in Valdebebas.PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP
This League is a roller coaster. The ups and downs of the candidates for the title follow one another. The suspense is constant. With the VAR involved, let's not say. At the Alfredo di Stéfano, in the vibrant pulse between Madrid and Sevilla, the intrigue was typical of the best Hitchcock. Who knows if the most decisive moment of the championship. The game was running in the 73rd minute when Lopetegui's men took a corner. For Militão, in flight with Diego Carlos and with his back to the ball, it bounced off his outstretched right arm. Nothing said the referee. Benzema stampeded out, standing alone in front of Bono, who tied his legs. Two almost simultaneous penalties to solve. The judge issued a sentence for Madrid and Rakitic nailed the 1-2.
Minutes before the Croatian's success, Real had claimed a hand from Jordan.
As interpretable as any in these times in which football depends almost as much on the hands as on the feet.
Such is the colossal confusion.
Each of these play is like rolling the dice.
Today, everything depends on how the air hits a refereeing battalion that interprets the cumbersome and fickle regulation according to the day.
RMA
two
-
two
SEV
Real MadridCourtois, Nacho, Eder Militao, Marcelo (Miguel Ortega Gutierrez, min. 65), Álvaro Odriozola, Modric (Marco Asensio, min. 65), Kroos, Casemiro, Vinicius Junior (Hazard, min. 78), Benzema and Federico ValverdeSevillaBounou , Jesús Navas, Jules Koundé, Marcos Acuña, Diego Carlos, Rakitic (Óliver Torres, min. 87), Fernando, Joan Jordán (Gudelj, min. 83), Lucas Ocampos (Luuk de Jong, min. 87), Alejandro Gómez ( Youssef En-Nesyri, min. 55) and Suso (Óscar Rodríguez, min. 82)
Goals0-1 min.
21: Fernando.
1-1 min.
66: Marco Asensio.
1-2 min.
77: Rakitic.
2-2 min.
93: Diego Carlos (pp).
Referee Juan Martínez Munuera Yellow cards Casemiro (min. 20), Suso (min. 55) and Gudelj (min. 84)
The extreme uncertainty with those round-trip penalties was not the last plot of the game. In added time, a Kroos shot was deflected by Hazard's left heel and Real rescued a point. Insufficient. Atlético governs, which depends as much on itself as on this day Madrid or a few days ago Barça before its blow with Granada. The League, the VAR, is a Ferris wheel. And it was this vibrant match, with a better Seville at the start and a better Madrid after the intermission.
Sevilla came out bossy, with a monoculture of the ball. Around the ball, Papu Gómez organized a round table and the Lopetegui boys from round to round. Madrid hunted flies, always behind an adversary without a benchmark ram, but with a lot of regiment ahead of the ball and constant swaps. Another heavily armored rival for Real, still convalescing from his trance with the Chelsea corsairs. And not just because of Ramos and Mendy, injured again. From the outset, Zinedine Zidane did not focus on Hazard, so marked by the revelry with his Chelsea expander after the European skid.
A couple of Benzema's maneuvers served as a rattle for Zidane's.
In the second, his bingo header to the center of Odriozola was invalidated by the VAR.
The Basque side was caught offside by one foot.
The non-goal had an unforeseen effect.
Sevilla noticed the shock more than Madrid.
A step back from the visitors, an accordion team that adds platoons to attack and defense.
The Seville team lost some thread with Papu, with Suso.
In other words, with the ball.
Just then, when Madrid was already shaking, Fernando's goal arrived.
After a lack of Casemiro to Suso, the Cadiz activated Navas.
The center of the captain was taken down wonderfully by Rakitic, who in the jungle area of Courtois warned Fernando through a crack.
The Brazilian sat down Casemiro and scored with a left foot.
Little vertigo and the footprint of Kroos
A double blow for Madrid, who went from celebrating Benzema's goal prematurely to assuming Fernando's hole without remedy. In advantage, Sevilla was less expansive. At a disadvantage, Real was somewhat better with the ball, but more for the fretting than for the finishing touch. Too many white players addicted to claiming the ball at the foot. Little vertigo. There were no longer any offensive replicas of those from Nervión and the locals were closing without major shocks for Bono.
Back from rest, another Madrid. A set with more volume, another rhythm. Enough effort to block Sevilla on the periphery of Bono. Lopetegui intervened without delay. His team, so ruling at first, now needed a stretch. A cornet. En-Nesyri, a powerful and fast footballer, as a flag to start the team. Before it could take effect, Asensio anticipated. Kroos had just cited Vinicius with the goal after a braid with Modric. Until then, the night hadn't left much of Kroos's footprints, but for players like that, a blink of an eye is enough. The German had it, who summoned Asensio into the area. So geometric is the Balearic's left foot that he did not need to accommodate the ball to burst Bono's net.
The second half was from Madrid.
Sevilla is too small, the locals beat the drum, and even with Hazard through.
The crucial double play arrived and a disappointment for Real.
The last brushstroke of Kroos may not be enough for the ZZ.
But in this League nobody is safe from any incident.
The carousel is constant.
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