A hard luck story, then, for a very lively and entertaining Granada. They deservedly equalised on the hour when El Arabi, just on as a substitute, finished neatly after a referee-aided counterattack. After that they looked the likely winners for some time, but perhaps Penaranda’s withdrawal – the less offensively-minded Doucoure replaced him – invited Real on slightly. Still, it took a quite wonderful finish from Modric, who was outstanding throughout, to win the game and illuminate an otherwise stodgy Real performance. It was good fun, but at the end of the day it also showed why these teams are at opposite ends of the table. Granada just weren’t quite clinical enough up top and were made to pay at the back. That’s all for tonight – thanks for your company!
Full-time: Granada 1-2 Real Madrid
That’s a wrap. Real win away from home – but they were fortunate.
90+2 min: Benzema gets Real all the way up the pitch and wins a corner, that probably won’t travel that far. And indeed doesn’t. Keepball near the flag, until Granada get a foot in and clear.
90+1 min: Delivered by Rochina but Varane, who has played well, heads away. Three minutes of added time here, in total.
90 min: Dangerous free kick to Granada after a Modric foul just outside the area on the left...
88 min: Rochina tries to get away down the left but can’t keep the ball in. Granada’s fire may well have been extinguished.
87 min: Zidane introduces Nacho in Carvajal’s place. You just wonder if Granada paid for sitting off there, for the first time in the match. Bringing Doucoure on for Penaranda was a bit of a conservative move and Real took advantage within minutes. The scoreline is so hard on the home team but it’s the kind of thing that happens when you’re down at the bottom.
Goal! Granada 1-2 Real Madrid (Modric 85)
But they make it count! Modric, the best player on the park, receives the ball 25 yards out in a central position and arrows an absolutely tremendous shot plum into Fernandez’s top right corner. Unstoppable. What a goal! They don’t deserve it, but that was brilliant.
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84 min: Benzema is found by Kovacic in space and dinks a cross in from the right, but it’s headed away. Real putting a little pressure on now. They haven’t managed too much of it in sustained spells.
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83 min: Rochina breaks across the halfway line and Carvajal tugs him back cynically. Wasn’t too much need for that; it probably tells you how rattled Real have been here.
82 min: Doucoure nearly bundles a way through immediately but Carvajal is in quickly to block. The pace has just dropped off a tiny bit here. Granada probably wouldn’t want to let a point slip by going in too strong, although their approach throughout has been a joy.
81 min: A third Granada change. The Watford loan midfielder, Doucoure, replaces the Watford loan forward, Penaranda, who looks one heck of a player.
80 min: Varane is the latest Real player to play a pass straight off the pitch. They’re stumbling towards an unsatisfactory draw here.
78 min: Jese, on for the anonymous James a couple of minutes ago, has a shot deflected over. Then Real make a second change, Kovacic on for Isco.
77 min: Success is sprung down the right by a super, clipped Rochina pass, but crosses beyond everybody. Chance wasted there. Now Granada make a second change and Rico is replaced by the Slovenian, Rene Krhin.
75 min: And now it’s Marcelo, passing to absolutely nobody down the left flank, who can’t keep the ball in play. Real don’t look happy. Granada look vibrant. But none of that guarantees anything.
74 min: Ronaldo, really not at his best tonight, plays a really sloppy ball to the overlapping Isco and the ball ends up going out for a goal kick.
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73 min: Big shouts for a Granada penalty! Success is played in by a lovely Penaranda pass and tries to go round Navas. He goes down ... but a replay shows that the ‘keeper got a hand to the ball! Good decision, as at full speed it looked as if Success had a solid case.
71 min: Success wins a corner from Modric. Could this be a chance for a second goal? Yes! No! El Arabi finds the net after touching in Lomban’s header from the flag kick ... but he’s a yard offside!
70 min: Carvajal comes off worse in an aerial challenge but, after a brief stoppage, seems to be alright.
69 min: From the resulting Modric corner, Ramos runs around the back but can’t keep his header down.
68 min: Real could – should – have gone 2-0 up through Benzema just before the goal but one or two of them have been missing in action really, James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos in particular. Modric, though, picks out Ronaldo wonderfully but his centre from the left is cut out.
66 min: The stadium is rocking now. They nearly have another attack to enjoy but Foulquier’s pass sells Rico short and the midfielder ends up impeding Carvajal.
64 min: Rochina tries to make it his but fouls Varane as the two compete for a through ball.
63 min: What an enthralling game this is now. Could be anyone’s.
62 min: Ramos is booked for a foul on El Arabi. Have to say, much as the referee gets a pre-assist for that goal it came after some excellent pressing from the Granada forwards. Just before Modric was mugged, Success had almost done the same to Ramos.
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Goal! Granada 1-1 Real Madrid (El Arabi 60)
The substitute scores immediately! Wow! It comes after Modric, pressed by Rochina, loses the ball just inside his own half. The referee seems to get in his way! Rochina doesn’t hang around to worry, laying the ball right to El Arabi. He has plenty to do – the angle, on the right, is narrow and Navas is out sharply. But he slips the ball under him and it rolls into the net, with Carvajal unable to keep it out. They really deserve it!
58 min: A change up top for Granada – El Arabi replaces Barral, who had that header saved earlier.
57 min: How is that not 2-0? Granada give the ball away in a silly area and Modric, probably Real’s best player, slips the ball through for Benzema. He is one on one, 10 yards out, and a goal seems inevitable. It’s not really a poor finish but Fernandez, staying big and strong and not committing too early, gets down to his right and saves brilliantly.
55 min: Modric has a 15-yard shot blocked and Benzema lashes the rebound, from an angle, into the side netting. It all comes about after Carvajal, seemingly offside, finds a lot of time and space deep inside the box while the home defenders wait for a flag. Play to the whistle!
54 min: Success seems to have forced Marcelo into an error after the left-back slips and is rather unlucky to be adjudged to have fouled him. He’d have been through.
53 min: Another glimmer for Granada, as Rochina seems for a moment to be through on goal before Varane gets in adroitly to intervene. Perhaps he could have shot earlier ... something he does from range a few moments later, hitting one not too far over from 25 yards.
52 min: Isco, livelier in the first few minutes of this half, tries to nudge Benzema through but the striker isn’t really expecting it.
50 min: Ramos stands up to stop Lopes bursting into the box. This half has started at a right old tempo.
48 min: Ooh, and now it’s Fernandez, the home ‘keeper, who is called into serious action for the first time in the game. He dives to punch a left-sided cross away and it’s returned with interest by Modric, 25 yards out, who shows superb technique to send a volley back towards goal. But Fernandez is up quickly to tip the ball acrobatically over his bar – and the corner is defended.
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47 min: Marcelo almost gifts Granada a way back in. He tries to keep a Navas clearance in play and really shouldn’t bother – he ends up knocking the ball back towards his own goal and to Success, who hares into the area, cuts inside and shoots wide via a deflection. Should he have squared to a free man on the edge of the box? Probably. From the corner they go close again! Barral gets up at the back post and Navas has to fling himself to his right to parry. Fine start here from Granada!
Peeeeeeep! Second half underway
Now Real, all in blue, get us going.
Some half-time reads for you from Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United:
Half-time: Granada 0-1 Real Madrid
Well that was fun and Real are a bit lucky to be ahead there. Benzema’s goal came after some slack defending on Granada’s left side and you wonder if that is the season’s story for a home team that has played some scintillating stuff going forward without quite finding a cutting edge. But they’ll be encouraged: there have been openings and Real haven’t really got into a rhythm despite seeing much more of the ball after scoring. It’s a good game, this, and there’ll be more of it to come in 15 minutes.
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44 min: Super play by Granada down the right sees Lopes released inside the box by Success. He has a clear shot at goal, but skews it and it bobbles across and in front of Barral. It was neither one thing nor the other really, and it’s another good position spurned. At the other end, Isco lashes well over.
42 min: Real have had 63% of possession here, much of it since they scored. Granada are, more and more, having to operate on the counter.
40 min: Half a chance for Barral, who is found by a Rico cutback and sees his shot, eight yards out, blocked crucially by a brave Varane. Granada then win a corner and Rochina’s devilish delivery is fisted away by Navas.
38 min: Real continuing to knock the ball about, although as I say that Ronaldo is flagged offside. It would suit them to slow the tempo down a bit here. Things almost quicken at the other end but Rochina’s through ball towards Success is deflected away from harm.
36 min: A spell of possession here for Real, although Granada’s front three continue to press well. Not over by a long shot, this, although you can’t see the visitors not getting more chances.
34 min: A super, sweeping move from Granada perks things up and ends with Success, playing a one-two with Rico, thudding to the floor inside the box. Never a penalty – Ramos won the ball perfectly.
32 min: Now Perez is booked and we’ll see quickly enough how Granada, so positive thus far, respond to adversity.
Goal! Granada 0-1 Real Madrid (Benzema 30)
That is probably why Granada are struggling. Not for the first time, the left-back Foulquier leaves too much space behind him and Penaranda is in no position to track. Carvajal, fed by Modric, gets into acres of space behind them and his low centre is converted with no fuss by Benzema, right in front of goal. Really, really bad defending.
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30 min: Still nice and watchable, this. Penaranda gets in a spot of bother dribbling back towards his own goal but shows admirable cool to float a pass across the penalty area to Costa, who greets it with a sliced clearance.
29 min: Ronaldo takes on Lopes and is tackled briskly. Corner to Real on the left, from which a low Ronaldo shot is booted clear.
28 min: There’s definitely a sense that, for the great positions Granada have got themselves into, their final ball should probably have been better.
27 min: Success is prominent again, arrowing a cross towards Rochina, but it’s just behind the attacking midfielder and all he can do is backheel it up into the air.
26 min: Foulquier, a right-footed left-back, twists Carvajal’s blood, leaves him on his backside and whips in a cross-shot that Ramos clears.
25 min: What a fine piece of defending from Lomban! Granada fall asleep and Modric, who may have been just offside, is in acres of space on the right. He slips the ball across goal and Lomban, with Real players queuing up, is in like lightning to scoop the ball just wide of his own goal and to safety. The corner comes to nothing,
23 min: Now Ramos goes down in agony after winning a header against Success and going pretty much head over heels. Might he have aggravated his old shoulder injury? Perhaps, but he’s back up now, wincing a bit.
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22 min: Early cross put in from the left by Marcelo but James can’t bring it down at the back stick. A couple of moments – and that Ronaldo chance – aside, Real are yet to find much rhythm.
20 min: Perez takes a knock from the resulting free kick but I think he’ll be OK.
19 min: Barral, Granada’s centre-forward, hasn’t been a direct threat yet but is working Real’s defenders hard and opening up space for others. In fact there is space all over this pitch, at both ends, right now. Lopes, the home centre-back, has just been booked for a foul on the again very dramatic Isco. He’ll now miss their next game, at Real Sociedad.
17 min: Granada certainly don’t look like a struggling side here. Success, after seeing one run snuffed out, regains possession, cuts inside and hits a left-footer not too far wide of a diving Navas’s goal.
14 min: But they leave themselves open there and Ronaldo should, by his standards, score! Possession is given away by Granada and James sends Ronaldo scampering through on the left ... but at an angle he sends the ball across goal and just wide.
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13 min: The first let-up in the pace that we’ve had so far, really. It’s been engaging stuff and the home team’s wide men look direct and threatening.
11 min: Ooooh, close for Granada! Isco wants a foul on the edge of their box and rightly doesn’t get it; they counter immediately and Penaranda gets away down the middle, but Navas is out superbly again to tackle at his feet. The ball is returned to Penaranda and he scores, but he is beyond Navas with only one defender back, so is correctly given offside.
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9 min: Success again finds a nice position, this time just inside the box, but his ball is poor. Granada look sparky though; it’s a very positive team selection from them.
8 min: Lovely buildup from Real there, Marcelo passing to Modric with the outside of his foot and the Croatian sliding the galloping Carvajal in beautifully. His cross from the byline is overhead-kicked well wide by Benzema, who had Ronaldo behind him.
7 min: More decent approach play from Granada sees Fran Rico get down the left and slip in a low cross, but he’s flagged offside.
6 min: Success then gets in a very good crossing position on the right but undercooks it rather and Ramos heads away. Benzema, meanwhile, has picked up a knock but seems to be running it off.
5 min: Granada look as if they’ll be rapid on the counter, with Success a pacy outlet on the right and Penaranda on the left. They’ve started quite brightly.
3 min: Penaranda leaves a foot in on Carvajal. Two fouls in three minutes by the Watford prodigy, who chases a long ball moments later and forces Navas to race out and head clear.
2 min: Isco tries to cut back for James from the byline after a smart Marcelo pass, but it’s cut out well. Quite a lot of space opened up down the left for Real there, though.
1 min: Penaranda is pulled up for a foul after some early good work by the left-back Foulquier.
Peeeeep!
Referee Gil Manzano blows his whistle and Granada, in their red and white hoops, kick off.
The teams are walking out. So is a dapper-looking Zidane. It’s almost time....
Before we get stuck into this one, here’s Matt Dony on Gary Neville:
“Despite being a Liverpool fan, I grew to respect, even like, Neville as a pundit. I respect the fact that he has jumped in at the deep end in management, but that can’t excuse failings. It is a steep learning curve, as you said, so why not learn with a lower team. Valencia is a huge club. It wasn’t that long ago they were regularly bothering the latter stages of the Champions League. I hope he succeeds, I really do, but I know that I wouldn’t be at all happy if my club were risking the short term future and paying a fat pay check to essentially allow someone to cut his teeth”
Real Madrid have only one once in their last five away games. That’s the hot stat going into this one. Can Granada capitalise on any uncertainty?
Another name of interest in the Granada side – remember Ruben Rochina, Blackburn fans?
Penaranda, by the way, is just 18 and has four goals from 13 games this season. This is him:
And, as we’ve still 15 minutes to kick-off, why not relive Michael Butler’s MBM of Levante v Barcelona?
Here is Sid Lowe’s report on Real Betis 1-0 Gary Neville’s Valencia:
‘Dacre’ emails about Neville: “I agree with what you say. Gary Neville had only just come into the team and needs to be given time. It always takes a while to settle in and get to know your squads abilities. I’m sure Gary Neville will make a great manager in the future and the media should give him a chance. I feel sorry for the poor guy!”
As we’re on a La Liga tip, by all means send in your thoughts on Gary Neville. Valencia lost again today, 1-0 at Real Betis, and the atmosphere around the team seems a little poisonous although reports suggest Neville’s job is safe. Personally, I don’t see how anyone can call him “clueless” or such at this stage; he’s only been there five minutes, has inherited a mess and the learning curve is clearly huge. Not sure anyone can cast aspersions on his managerial ability, even though things have not started well. Sometimes I think we – football fans and media – really ought to know better, as you see some weird stuff out there. Spain is probably even worse for it than England.
The teams
Granada: A Fernandez, Lomban, Lopes, Costa, Foulquier, Perez, Rico, Rochina, Barral, Penaranda, Success. Subs: J Fernandez, Biraghi, Babin, El Arabi, Doucoure, Cuenca, Krhin.
Real Madrid: Navas, Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, Isco, James, Ronaldo, Benzema. Subs: Casilla, Nacho, Casemiro, Kovacic, Arbeloa, Vazquez, Jese.
Gareth Bale and Pepe both miss out through injury. Watford new boy Penaranda starts for Granada and, as I said, is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
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Watford fans could usefully keep a weather eye on Granada – both to watch some of their current players and to see who might be joining them next season. One or two of those on show today are bound to end up at Vicarage Road, due to the Pozzos’ frequent shuttling around of footballers between their clubs. Adalberto Penaranda, a very exciting young Venezuelan who has been on loan at Granada all season but was signed by Watford from parent club Udinese (another Pozzo outfit) on deadline day, could well feature today – as could Abdoulaye Doucoure, who joined Watford from Rennes and was immediately loaned out to the Spanish club.
Evening all
The Zizoulution – because that can definitely be a thing – has a chance to gather pace this evening. And, boy, it needs to because Real Madrid remain seven points behind Barcelona and, just as concerningly, four behind city neighbours Atletico. There have been some encouraging signs since the old master took over from Rafa Benitez last month: Real have scored five, five and six in their three home games and the only blot on their copybook has been a disappointing 1-1 draw at Real Betis.
What, then, is the real Real? We might find out tonight and victory at Granada, who are second-bottom of La Liga and have the division’s second-worst defensive record, seems a must. Real only squeaked past Jose Ramon Sandoval’s side 1-0 at the Bernabeu in September and, while a repeat would go down reasonably well tonight, better might be expected. Granada don’t tend to draw – they haven’t done in their last 13 games in all competitions – so the odds are promising for an open, entertaining encounter here. A win for the hosts would take them clear of the relegation zone; it would also lead to a fresh outbreak of mass hysteria at the soap opera of an outfit that is Real.
So stay tuned, as this one should be fun. Send in your thoughts on Zidane-era Real and anything else ... including Pozzo-owned Granada ... and let’s enjoy.
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