Today Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo saved Real Madrid from an embarrassing defeat in front of the home crowd against Athletic Bilbao with a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu stadium on Wednesday.
Expressing his disappointment with the result, Coach Zinedine Zidane said, “I’m not happy with the result, it’s not positive for us. We played well, above all in the first half.”
While Ronaldo’s amazing backheel goal helped Ronaldo to snatch a draw that left them third on 68 points after 33 games.
With this draw, the team is just 3 points behind neighbours Atletico Madrid, who will play their game in hand at Real Sociedad on Thursday. Meanwhile, Barcelona stands at the top with 83 points.
Cristiano Ronaldo's backheel goal from Luka Modric's probing shot#HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/nizJWkFxsT
— Casemiro Fan – VillacJJ (@VillacJj) April 18, 2018
Though Athletic Bilbao has gained their first point at the Bernabeu since 2005 after the draw. While they also wasted the great opportunity of winning their first match at Bernabeu and earn all the three points as it was not possible for them to handle the tricks of Ronaldo as they kept on losing chances.
In the first half, Athletic’s two excellent center-backs, and the sprightly Kepa in goal was enough to frustrate Real.
In the second half, it seemed as if the hosts are going to face a defeat until Luka Modric’s low drive into the back of the net was touched by the former Manchester United star’s backheel in the 87th minute helped them to earn a point.
Further, Raul Garcia lost a great chance to double Bilbao’s lead before Ronaldo’s goal, striking the crossbar with Keylor Navas out of position after a scramble in the box.
Athletic goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga who had made excellent saves to deny Raphael Varane and Marco Asensio also lost out to Ronaldo in the dying minutes.
Real Madrid gave their topmost performances but it seemed everyone was waiting for their next Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich in Germany.
Real winger Lucas Vazquez said, “It’s true that we are thinking about Bayern Munich, but not when we were playing. We have a week to work on that, we’re doing well. We’re confident and we are playing well,”
