Well that was fun! Barça can secure the title with a win at Atlético next weekend. Thanks for reading, I’m off to enter a dark room. Bye!
FULL-TIME! Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia
Barcelona must be celebrating. A point leaves them four points clear with two games to go – notwithstanding the potential of the strike.
90 min + 5: Pepe’s header is denied by another great Diego Alves save! But the whistle had already gone anyway.
90 min + 4: Isco’s delivery is headed out for another corner – Real’s 12th. That one breaks to Marcelo who has a go from range. It’s blocked by Mustafi. Illarramendi takes possession and is fouled on the edge of the area on the left side. James to cross …
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90 min + 4: Real have a corner. This must be their last chance.
90 min + 3: It’s relentless pressure from Real now but James watches his shot blocked and Valencia break. Negredo feeds De Paul but his shot is saved by Casillas and Real go right on the attack again.
90 min +1: Parejo booked for a cynical foul on the right, hacking down Isco. Carvajal’s delivery from the free is knocked down to Chicharito but Diego Alves saves. Again.
90 min +1: There will be five added minutes!
90 min: Sergio Ramos is gone up front. Real have won a corner. James’s delivery is sent towards Ramos and Pepe but the latter gets to it and heads harmlessly wide at the back-post.
89 min: Piatti comes off, Orban is on for the final minute plus added time.
88 min: Nevermind, Valencia have weathered the storm and are back on the front foot themselves. They’ve won a corner and are committing men forward, there are six of them about to attack it … but Ramos wins a free-kick following an aerial tussle.
87 min: It’s deflected off the wall for a corner. James’s delivery is towards Ronaldo but he can’t get to it and it’s cleared for a throw. Base camp: Valencia’s half.
86 min: Can they do it? Ronaldo is fouled by Barragan 20 yards out from goal. Ronaldo and Bale line it up but the former looks more likely.
GOAL! Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia (Isco)
84 min: What a hit this is. Amazing from Isco. Gareth Bale dribbles inwards across the edge of the area but instead of shooting, the Welshman feeds Isco. He steadies, moves from his left on to his right and sends a piledriver into the top left corner. There was no chance for Diego Alves this time.
82 min: Another Negredo chance! This time he heads over from close range.
81 min: Chance for Negredo! But the substitute, fed by another pair of fresh legs in De Paul, cannot finish. Real go on the attack right away and Carvajal strikes a shot straight at Diego Alves.
79 min: Now Valencia have a corner. They are killing this game dead pretty well at the moment. Real can’t seem to gather any attacking momentum.
77 min: This game is stopping. And starting. Stopping. And starting. Valencia make another change: Gomes strolls off, hugging some team-mates on his way towards the dugout. Rodrigo de Paul makes his way on at a slightly quicker pace.
73 min: It’s all becoming very stop start. Marcelo is fouled by Gomes on the left wing. James swings it in, Ramos rises and Diego Alves saves again. What a goalkeeper!
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73 min: Mustafi heads wide from it. The whistles from the Real fans are becoming more audible with each passing minute.
72 min: Negredo wins a corner off Carvajal. They’ll take their time over this one.
70 min: Another Real corner. This time Diego Alves is out to punch clear. Illarra’s return is cleared and Valencia move forward through Piatti on the left.
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69 min: Real have a free-kick but not before Alcacer slowly makes his way off in place of Negredo. Ronaldo takes the free and it bounces once before going wide.
65 min: The shape and organisation of Valencia has been very impressive so far – which means they’ll get sloppy and lose 3-0 now. They are defending in numbers but when in possession have been using it well for the most part and still look capable of hurting Real on the break, especially as you would expect the hosts to commit more forward as we enter the closing stages.
62 min: Valencia have done well to take the sting out of Real since Pepe’s goal. They are camped in the Real half at present and keeping possession well. Until Gaya decides to cross from the left, but Alcacer cannot get on the end of this one.
60 min: Valencia have come back out of their shell again. A Gómes strike fails to trouble Casillas though.
Oh!
'Pepe kill him, Pepe kill him' sings Madrid's [supposedly nice] ultras.
— Dermot Corrigan (@dermotmcorrigan) May 9, 2015
GOAL! Real Madrid 1-2 Valencia (Pepe)
56 min: Pepe pulls one back from a corner after Chicharito’s attempt was brilliantly saved by Diego Alves. He drops to his knees to celebrate briefly before rushing back. The game is very much on.
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55 min: The Real fans are beginning to get anxious. Whistles and howls rain down from the stands. But their team are going closer.
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53 min: The second corner is headed wide by Ramos.
52 min: Ronaldo crosses from the right. Chicharito takes it down but cannot finish. Carvajal’s rebound is deflected for a corner. The ball comes back in, Barragan puts it back out for a corner.
50 min: Otamendi heads over from it. At the other end, Ronaldo wins a free-kick on the left side corner of the box. He sends it in with some added fizz but Diego Alves punches it clear.
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49 min: The free-kick is sent cross field and Marcelo concedes a corner.
48 min: Pepe booked for an odd aerial challenge on Piatti near halfway.
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47 min: Chicharito is through but is denied at the near-post by Diego Alves.
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46 min: James picks out Ronaldo but he is whistled offside.
Restarted!
46 min: Valencia get us going again. Arbeloa and Coentrao have been hooked.
Teams are back out and Ancelotti has made a gamble by using his other two subs: Carvajal and and Marcelo are on.
An email from Mark Turner:
Bale best player out there for Merengue.
Bale gets whistled by the crowd.
Bale wins penalty.
Ronaldo misses penalty.
Bale gets whistled again.
Because Real Madrid.
And some of your thoughts on Arbeloa:
Arbeloa is mediocre, but he some sort of unaccountably plausible aura that makes him actually worse than ‘bad’. Otherwise he would be playing as a regular first choice in the Spanish Second Division ‘helping’ his team to seventh or eighth place – Lou Roper
Hi Alan, yes Arbeloa is that bad. He’s muck & he’s a passenger. Overrated & brutal but by the grace of the footballing gods he’s got some medals out the game – John McEnerney
@alansmith90 Arbeloa is worse. The weak link for club and country for years. His career has been a Demichelis-like enigma.
— Señor Mono (@MonoDelDiablo) May 9, 2015
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HALF-TIME! Real Madrid 0-2 Valencia
45 min +1: That was the last action of a thrilling opening period. Real have hit the woodwork four times (though one was offside anyway), they have had a penalty saved and have conceded twice to a team who have had only three attempts in total. Let’s catch our breath.
PENALTY SAVED!
45 min + 1: Amazing! Diego Alves guesses correctly and SAVES Ronaldo’s take. The Real attacker swings wildly at the rebound but cannot connect.
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PENALTY FOR REAL!
45 min: Bale wins it after Gaya, who has already been booked, shoves him to the floor. He has already been booked. A yellow card is flashed … to Chicharito for asking the referee to send Gaya off. Anyway, Ronaldo to take …
45 min: Bale knocks the ball back towards Ronaldo from the end-line but he is surround closely by THREE Valencia players.
42 min: Bale involved again in a Real attack. He darts down the right and sends an in-swinger in towards Ronaldo but Valencia are happy to give away a corner. That’s taken towards Ramos but he’s unable to connect well.
40 min: Chants of “show us your balls” from the Real ultras – not meant to be taken literally – as Chicharito, fed by Bale, hits the post.
38 min: Another Valencia corner from Piatti is cleared at the near post but the ball ends back with Diego Alves in the Valencia goal. He plays himself into trouble with Chicharito closing him down but he manages to halt the danger at the second time of asking.
36 min: Real have Valencia pinned back now. Chicharito shrugs off Otamendi and advances but the defender recovers and concedes a corner.
An email from Lou Roper …
Can Real Madrid really not find a better right-back than Arbeloa? At least, Liverpool got shot of him, but I really cannot understand how he has played so many games for supposedly ‘top-drawer’ clubs.
I’d rather Dani Alves and Branislav Ivanovic just to name two – but is he really that bad?
33 min: Whisper it, but Bale has been Real’s only decent performer so far.
32 min: Bale has a pop from a long way out on his left. It’s bending into the top left corner but Diego Alves dives and produces a remarkable save! That was a ferocious hit.
30 min: Valencia passing it around the back now under little pressure. Why rush? They’re 2-0 up!
On the evidence of the past 28 minutes …
@alansmith90 at times the RM back 4 sometimes look like David"Sideshow Bob"Luiz has been giving them advice & they're listening to him!
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) May 9, 2015
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-2 Valencia (Fuego)
26 min: And it’s two! Fuego scores his fourth of the season after the delivery lands in the area. Fuego gets between Pepe and Ramos and heads past Casillas and into the bottom right corner. Real could start feeling very sorry for themselves now.
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25 min: Arbeloa booked for a late tackle from behind on Gómes. Kroos is holding his arse cheek and is off down the tunnel, Illarra on in place of him before the free-kick is taken.
23 min: Another cross from Real – Coentrao this time – is cut out and Valencia break menacingly. Alcacer is up top on his own but cannot be found. Kroos is off the field getting attention for an injury, now, which is worrying for Real.
21 min: Real go all out attack. Bale crosses to Ronaldo. He attempts an overhead kick which is saved. Kroos blasts the rebound over the bar.
GOAL! Real Madrid 0-1 Valencia (Alcacer)
20 min: Alcacer, having missed that earlier chance, gets on to the end of Gaya’s brilliant cross from the left. Pepe’s outstretched leg cannot get there in time and the ball creeps past Casillas.
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18 min: Good spell for Real. Isco’s cross is sent out for a corner. James takes and Ronaldo … hits the bar! That’s three times the ball has struck the woodwork in 18 minutes.
16 min: Gaya clatters Isco near the touchline and this time he’s booked. The free-kick is sent in by James, it breaks to Bale who hits the bar again but the whistle was already gone for offside.
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13 min: Gaya fouls Bale – kicking him in the achilles – and Real have a free-kick that would suit a left-footer, on the right side of the box. Will Ronaldo let Bale take it? Yes! And he crashes it off the crossbar with Diego Alves stuck to the ground.
10 min: Alcacer has just missed a glorious chance but he may have thought play had stopped for a foul on Pepe in the build-up. The Real defender hit the deck, but the referee waved play on. Alcacer expected the whistle to go and carelessly hooked the ball over. Bizarre – he’s unlikely to get another opportunity like that between now and full-time.
7 min: Coentrao bends a teasing cross in from the left. Ronaldo leaps but it’s intercepted just before it reaches his shiny forehead.
6 min: Gareth Bale crosses from the right with the outside of his left boot but is offside.
4 min: Valencia win a second corner. Piatti sends it towards the back stick but Mustafi is penalised for a shove on Ramos.
3 min: Ronaldo has a half-hearted appeal for a penalty after falling outside the box under a tiny bit of pressure from Barragan. Chicharito had played the pass towards Ronaldo but that’s never going to be a penalty, never mind a free-kick.
2 min: Ronaldo crosses towards Bale (or should that be Boo-ale?) from the left but it’s cut out at the near post.
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1 min: Immediately from the kick-off, Valencia intercept. And break. Alcacer has a pop but it’s saved by Casillas, turning it around his right-hand post. The corner fails to threaten.
Peep!
1 min: Real Madrid kick-off in all white. Valencia are in a mish-mash of yellow, red and blue.
Valencia will be previewing their kit for next season tonight, if you’re into that sort of thing.
It’s finished 2-0 at Barça – a win that would make them champions if the strike goes ahead. Bryan Graham had all the action here.
Neymar has given Barcelona the lead at the Camp Nou. Bryan Graham has all the action.
The teams
Real Madrid: Casillas; Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Coentrao; Isco, Kroos, James; Bale, Chicharito, Ronaldo.
Valencia: Diego Alves; Barragan, Otamendi, Mustafi, Gaya; Javi Fuego, Parejo; Feghouli, André Gómes, Piatti; Alcacer.
A caveat: of course Spanish football might be suspended on 16 May due to a TV disagreement so we might not get our expected finish.
You can read more about that possibility here.
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Buenas noches mis amigos
This is a defining week for Real Madrid. They trail in the Champions League semi-final 2-1 to Juventus and need to win Wednesday’s second leg to keep alive their hopes of becoming the first team to retain the Champions League. Domestic matters are of immediate concern, however. They sat three points behind Barcelona with three games remaining before Barça kicked off against Real Sociedad – at the time of writing, it was scoreless at Camp Nou at half-time.
Juventus, the Serie A title wrapped up with weeks to spare, could afford to rest everybody for their league game against Cagliari earlier this evening (although Massimiliano Allegri decided to make only nine changes from the starting XI from last Tuesday’s first leg in Turin). Carlo Ancelotti could not enjoy such a luxury. All the big guns are ready to do battle because fail to win and the La Liga title will surely be out of reach.
And what of Valencia? They presently occupy the fourth Champions League place, three points clear of Sevilla, who travel to Celta Vigo tomorrow night. They won the reverse fixture at the Mestalla 2-1 in January and drew at the Bernabéu 2-2 last season, though are without a win here since 2008 and Real have won 14 of the past 15 on home turf.
Real have also strung seven straight league wins together and Valencia have not won away from home since a 4-0 triumph at Elche almost a month ago. Draws at Athletic and Rayo along with a defeat to Barça have followed, though that loss is their only one in 14.
Still, it will not be a walk in the park for los merengues and this game always produces goals. Kick off is 8pm in Madrid, 7pm in London. Team news to follow.
