Match report
Real Madrid got off to a winning start in La Liga on Sunday by comfortably beating neighbours Getafe 2-0 at home, with an inspiring performance from Gareth Bale in the European champions’ first league game in the post Cristiano Ronaldo era.
Bale crashed a diving header against the crossbar early on, then helped to set up Dani Carvajal’s looping header which broke the deadlock in the 20th minute. The Welshman then wrapped up the points with a powerful first-time finish early in the second half.
Bale was given a standing ovation by the home supporters in his first competitive game back at the Santiago Bernabeu, since scoring twice in the 3-1 win over Liverpool in the Champions League final.
The result lifts the pressure on new coach Julen Lopetegui after Wednesday’s painful 4-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, and sees Real join champions Barcelona on three points after one game, although Sevilla lead the standings on goal difference after their 4-1 win at Rayo Vallecano.
(Reuters)
Well, Real were really very good for long spells, but knew they had the game won after the second goal so very much kicked back and took what they had. The 2-0 scoreline thoroughly flatters Getafe, who weren’t terrible but they certainly weren’t any good either. Lucky to keep ten men on the pitch, too.
Full-time: Real Madrid 2-0 Getafe
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins: A save! A save for Navas! The ball bobbles up near the edge of the box, Rodriguez hooks a shot towards goal but the keeper grabs it with ease. Two minutes of stoppage time to come.
89 mins: Modric slides a ball into the area for the run of Carvajal, but he goes down under Cabrera’s challenge. That looked more like a shoulder-barge, though: no penalty.
86 mins: Alejo runs down the right, and a big hunk of white charges over to take out the ball, and a bit of the man too. Then Sergio Ramos stands over his target, just to let him know who’s boss.
84 mins: Djene hoofs Marcelo right up in the air, and remarkably isn’t given a yellow card. That would have been his second. Some very eccentric officiating in this game.
82 mins: Asensio crosses low from the left, towards Marcelo, but the nominal left-back dummies hoping to give Benzema a go, but that was just a little bit ambitious.
79 mins: And two more bookings in the same incident for Getafe. Cabrera gets the first for wiping out Asensio as Real try to launch a counter. The referee plays the advantage as the ball then falls to Vasquez, whose run is stopped dead by a Gonzalez bodycheck. Cynical stuff all round.
77 mins: Substitution for Real, as Bale goes off, Lucas Vasquez comes on. Just after that, Arambarri gets booked for a trip on Kroos.
76 mins: You know you occasionally see a refereeing decision that’s so bad you just burst out laughing? One of those just happened, as Asensio burst into the box, and is chased down by Gonzalez who just pushes him over. Not in a subtle way - just two hands in the back, shoves him to the ground. The referee says no, and apparently the VAR lads didn’t think that was a mistake either. Remarkable.
74 mins: Chance for Getafe! Mata leads a counter-attack, then switches from left to right where Alejo meets the pass, volleying into the middle - Rodriguez slides in but just can’t reach it.
73 mins: Lovely bit of business between Benzema and Marcelo, the latter darting infield then backheeling to the former. Those two have linked up really well tonight.
71 mins: More subs for both teams: Getafe remove Molina in place of Angel Rodriguez, while for Real - here’s Luka Modric, replacing Caballos. Despite the hoopla over the summer, he gets a decent reception from the crowd.
70 mins: Bale is fed by a nice volleyed pass by Kroos, he cuts in from the right corner of the box and tries a shot, which flies just past the top corner.
69 mins: Adambarri tries a big shot from way out but...the less said about that one the better.
68 mins: Molina tries to turn, gets his feet all tangled and essentially trips himself up, but due to the presence of two defenders about two yards away, makes off with a free-kick. Excellent work. Marcelo then goes into the book for a hack at Alejo’s shins.
65 mins: Slapstick! Soria clears the ball, but it hits the spider cam zooting around above the pitch. It rebounds into Alejo’s path but the referee calls play back and says it must restart after thwacking the hardware. As it were.
64 mins: Another booking: Mata, who has been on the pitch for a whopping six minutes, gets a yellow for a high foot. Meanwhile, they make another substitution: Ivan Alejo comes on for Portillo.
63 mins: Marcelo crosses from the left, finds Benzema at the back post but he was a good two yards beyond the last man.
60 mins: An unexpected development in this game has been Marcelo turning into a silky playmaker. He passes delightfully inside to Benzema, who exchanges passes with Asensio, who shoots side-footed from the edge of the area, but it’s not especially powerful and Soria saves with ease.
58 mins: Changes for both teams: for Real, Casemiro replaces Isco, while Getafe bring on Jaime Mata instead of of Ndiaye.
56 mins: Ronaldo? More like RonaldWHO? Eh? Am I right? Come on guys, that was good! Right? Funny? Yeah?
54 mins: Post! Asensio! He’s been sensational tonight, and goes close to a goal of his own. Marcelo finds himself on the edge of the Getafe box, he’s dispossessed but it breaks back to Asensio, who hammers a right-footed shot at goal, but it thwacks against the post.
51 mins: Absolutely superb work from Asensio. He chases Djene down, whips the ball off the defender’s toes, then outmuscles him to make some room for a cross, which he cuts back and sort of scuffs, but the ball makes its way to Bale at the far post, and he sweeps it home, left footed.
GOAL! Real Madrid 2-0 Getafe (Bale 51)
Great stuff from Bale, great stuff from Asensio.
47 mins: Djene gives Benzema a kick, which is a risky old business given he’s already been booked.
46 mins: Real get going again. Getafe too, as Gonzalez barges Benzema to the ground, but nothing doing from the ref there.
And we are back, back, back.
Real have looked pretty impressive so far. Plenty of zip to their play, fast passing, positional switching, all the business there. Getafe seem keen on kicking seven bells out of them, but if they can survive that then Real will be laughing.
Half-time: Real Madrid 1-0 Getafe
Peeeeeeeeeeeep
44 mins: Navas gets a little bit of action, dashing off his line to reach a ball before Molina can get there. Nice for him to be involved: you assume he won’t have much more of that.
43 mins: Peak Ramos! From that free-kick, ol’ Sergio is found in the box, he gets Cabrera basically in a headlock and whips him to the ground before battering the ball into the roof of the net. And then, to complete our little play, he appears shocked - shocked, I tell you! - that anyone would think he would do such a thing.
42 mins: And another booking: Benzema lollipops past Djene, so the Getafe centre-half takes the simplest option and just hacks him down.
41 mins: Ndiaye gets a booking for shoving Carvajal in the mouth. Which, on balance, is fair enough really.
39 mins: This too...
Getafe will get a hammering at half time for how wasteful they've been in possession. Have won the ball back in some decent positions either half way or even two thirds up the pitch but give it away with a rubbish first ball.
— Lee Roden (@LeeRoden89) August 19, 2018
37 mins: Getafe are getting not a look-in here. Which is to be expected, but their heads look like they’re spinning at the chasing Real are giving them.
34 mins: PENALTY TO R...NO! Scratch that! Marcelo finds himself in midfield, and slips a nice pass to Benzema down the right channel (which we’ll come back to), who clips a cross into the middle. Ramos goes up with Djene and Suarez who between them shove him into the net, and the referee blows up for a fairly regulation penalty decision. BUT WAIT! Let’s go back to that Benzema run, because the linesman decreed that he was offside from that Marcelo pass which the replays suggest he was...just.
32 mins: Real haven’t looked like a team who have lost their manager and best player over the summer. That said, Carvajal tries a ball down the right that Isco would’ve needed a motorbike to catch.
31 mins: Real aren’t particularly happy about some of the spicy treatment they’re getting. Cabrera takes down Isco, but flags and whistles stay silent.
30 mins: Isco tries a big outside of the foot, crossfield pass in his own half to Marcelo on the left, but only manages to toe-end it. Despite this, it goes straight to Ramos. When your luck’s in, it’s in.
27 mins: Getafe go for a bit of rough-housing. Molina tracks back to try to get the ball off Kroos, but only succeeds in hooking his foot around the German’s shin, thus earning him a yellow card.
26 mins: More slick passing, back and forth between Ceballos and Benzema, from which the former pings a pass out to Asensio on the right side of the box. He shoots, but was leaning back and it was always going to go over. Bale, at the back stick, wasn’t happy about his decision-making.
23 mins: Do we think Real are candidates for the old theory that a star player leaving actually makes them more of a team? They’re certainly looking very fluid in this game so far.
20 mins: Bale finds himself on the left, flings a cross into the middle which is deflected. Soria comes out and gets a half-punch on the ball, sending it only as far as Carvajal about 15 yards out on the right of the area, and he loops a careful header over the stranded keeper and into the net.
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-0 Getafe (Carvajal 20)
And their build-up is rewarded.
18 mins: Real’s build-up play really has been very impressive. Ceballos pings a pass to Isco on the left corner of the area, but he’s bodychecked by Suarez. Nothing given, much to the collective chagrin of Real.
16 mins: Bale goes close! Marcelo does brilliantly on the left, making space for a cross and then delivering it to perfection. Bale dives, batters a header towards goal which beats a grasping Soria, but it thunks off the bar.
14 mins: Bale booms a big ball over to Benzema, right touchline to left, which the Frenchman brings down rather nicely but is bundled off the ball by a combination of Suarez and Portillo.
12 mins: Lopetegui tries to attract Isco’s attention and does a motion that in charades would probably mean ‘large inflatable ring you sit on in a swimming pool.’ Would imagine it has a more profound/relevant meaning on the pitch.
10 mins: Some smart passing by Real - sharp, pacy, across the pitch and back, Isco at the heart of it all. But ultimately it comes to nothing, with no discernible focal point to their attack. No comment...
8 mins: Bale knocks the ball past Cabrera down the Real right, but put just too much on his knock forwards and can’t haul it in before it goes out for a goal kick.
6 mins: Getafe streak forwards in what looked like a threatening counter attack, Shibasaki feeding the speeding Ndiaye down the left, but he cut inside only to be tackled by the rather unlikely enforcer Isco.
4 mins: Brilliant save from Soria, flinging himself up and to the right to paw away a Bale shot. The Welshman was in absolutely acres after a long ball over the top, and fired a shot towards the top corner, but the flag eventually went up to signal Bale was offside.
3 mins: Marcelo whhhhhhhips in a cross from the left, but it’s hooked clear before Benzema can really get a sniff. Bale, by the way, has started from the right, Asensio on the left.
1 min: We’re away. Real knock the ball around for the first minute or so.
Crowd looks a bit thin. Everyone not back from their jollies yet?
The teams are in the tunnel. Wait...no...scratch that...the teams are now emerging from the tunnel.
Some helpful literature for the Real faithful...
A bit of time for some piping hot La Liga preview action, riiiiiiiiight here:
Not exactly a balls out first XI for Lopetegui, then. Modric, Courtois and Varane all on the bench, with Dani Ceballos joining Toni Kroos at the base of midfield.
TEAM NEWS
Real Madrid
Navas; Carvajal, Ramos, Nacho, Marcelo; Ceballos, Kroos; Asensio, Isco, Bale; Benzema. Subs: Courtois, Varane, Modric, Casemeiro, Lucas Vasquez, Mayoral, Vincius.
Getafe
Soria; Djene, Bruno, Cabrera, Portillo, Gaku, Amath, Arambarri, Molina, Maksimovic, Damian. Subs: Chichizola, Antunes, Mata, Angel, Sergi Guardiola, Miquel, Alejo.
Updated
Preamble
Here we go then. The post-Ronaldo/Zidane era at Real Madrid begins in earnest. Of course it actually began in their bruising defeat to Atletico in the European Super Cup on Wednesday, and while that mattered in a loose, parochial way, nobody will remember that in a few months. Their league season on the other hand - people will remember that, particularly if it goes violently south in the early days.
Only one game in, too early to judge etc, but you are left with the sense that Julen Lopetegui has, in the words of Gob Bluth, made a huge mistake. In May he was guiding a strong-looking Spain team to the World Cup, a sense of a refreshed team after the calamity of 2014, the players seemed broadly onside and, in general, he had a pretty good thing going on. But then Zinedine Zidane resigned and all hell broke loose. Lopetegui, presumably because he thought you only get offered this gig once, took the Real job at just about the worst possible time a manager could take the Real job. How do you follow a club legend winning the Champions League three season on the spin, with an ageing team to make some sense from?
Throw in perhaps the greatest player to ever play for the club leaving, which he probably didn’t quite anticipate when he said yes, and this is the hospital pass to end all hospital passes. You’re left with the feeling that he threw away a brilliant job with Spain, the chance of doing something special with the national team, in order to be ignominiously binned by November just like anyone else who takes this job.
Perhaps this is all premature. It almost certainly is premature. They still have some smashing players, some promising youngsters and, well, they’re still Real Madrid. But dear lord, you wonder why he bothered. Let’s see if he can make sense of it all from here.
