Real Madrid were unable to keep up their winning momentum as Los Blancos succumbed to a 2-1 loss at the hands of Athletic Bilbao at San Mames.
Carlo Ancelotti chose to reward Dani Ceballos and Fran García with more starts, which came as a surprise but arguably, the duo deserved it.
The home side came out all guns blazing and Madrid looked evidently unsettled by their aggressive pressing. They were rewarded with a chance but Thibaut Courtois did well to keep the shot out in the 4th minute.
Kylian Mbappe found the back of the net a few minutes later but as the story has gone this season – the Frenchman was offside yet again.
However, the referee paused the game after Mbappe was found offside and checked the VAR for a potential penalty for a foul on Rodrygo but that was eventually ruled out.
Athletic Club continued to create chances and ended the half with 4 total shots at goal and 1 big chance as compared to Madrid’s just 3 shots on target.
Inaki Williams proved to be troublesome for Lucas Vazquez throughout the match and he finally recorded an assist through a rather awkward ball he put in for Alex Berenguer to put into the back of the net – on the second attempt.
Real Madrid looked much better in the 2nd half and the introduction of Brahim Díaz over Dani Ceballos was one of the reasons.
The Merengues received a penalty for a foul made on Antonio Rüdiger but Kylian Mbappe failed to find the back of the net and had his shot saved by Julen Agirrezabala.
In the 77th minute, Mbappe forced a save off the goalkeeper, but, this time, Jude Bellingham was on the rebound and scored the equaliser for the men in white.
However, that lead did not last long as because just two minutes later, a rare mistake by Fede Valverde caused Gorka Guruzeta to take advantage and nicely finished his side’s second goal.
The mistake by Valverde clearly rattled the Real Madrid side a bit as they failed to create any major chances in the final 10 minutes or so.
After the match, Carlo Ancelotti mentioned that the team competed well and deserved at least a draw but also commented that they need to keep working despite getting better as each game passes by.
It was a poor game from Los Blanco in the 1st half especially as a well drilled Bilbao had Madrid’s back against the wall and it seems like they weren’t able to recover from it despite playing a much better 2nd half.
Real Madrid fail to take advantage of this game in light of FC Barcelona’s recent displays but the game in hand still gives the Merengues hope.
Next up, the Vikings travel to Girona to take them on in what is expected to be another challenging fixture.
