Right, we’re going to wrap this blog up now. A match report will be up shortly, but if you want more football, Saints v Man City is here:
A hard one for Sporting to take. They fought hard, and scored two very good goals, but in the end they just couldn’t stop the Real Madrid train. By the end they looked completely exhausted, and that might be the nail in their relegation coffin.
For Real, that’s the perfect prep for the classic. And now Barcelona have to beat Real Sociedad this evening. Failure to win and the title is surely Real’s.
The headline news: Real twice come from behind to go six points clear of Barcelona and keep this title charge on track. But today was all about a quite sumptuous performance from Isco: two great goals, a buffet of brilliant moments, and the knife in the heart of Sporting right at the death. If Real do go on to take this La Liga championship, they should look back on today and give all the credit to their little No 22.
Full-time: Sporting 2-3 Real Madrid
And that’s that.
90 min +1 Three minutes of stoppage time, but Sporting look done in. That’s tough to take for the home side, but Isco deserves all the acclaim. He’s a magician, isn’t he?
90 min Well, he’s been the best player on the pitch by miles, and he’s just delivered the game’s most telling moment. He took a touch to kill Marcelo’s pass, took another to set himself, and just slammed a shot, low, past Cuellar from 20 yards out. Just brilliant. And Real are going six points clear of Barcelona!
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GOAL! Sporting 2-3 Real Madrid (Isco 90)
And Isco has won it! Unbelievable! What a player this guy is!
89 min It’s all Real Madrid. But time’s running out.
88 min This could turn out to be a very big result for Barcelona. It’s all Real, but Sporting are just about hanging on. And is that a penalty?! Off Babin’s hand – but the ref says no! Real are furious. Babin didn’t know much about it, but he definitely handled.
87 min Nacho Cases is carded for a rash trip on Isco. But the kick is wasted! Cuellar plucks it out of the air.
86 min Straight into the wall. Groan.
85 min Kovacic wins a free kick 30 yards from goal in a central position. James, it’s all yours.
83 min Another corner to Real. Isco takes, Ramos wins it, and it’s behind for a goal kick. Ramos wanted another corner, but it looked like he got the last touch.
81 min Mariano heads James’s corner over the bar! He met it really well, but couldn’t keep it down. That was another headed chance gone begging.
79 min Duje Cop is replaced by Dani Ndi, and gets a big round of applause the home fans. Ten minutes for Real to find a winner. Time’s ticking!
76 min Sporting’s bid to stay in the league would be given a huge boost with a point today. Real have dominated the game, but Sporting have certainly had their moments. They’ve looked more than decent.
74 min James shoots just wide from 25 yards. That wasn’t far away. Mariano is on for Lucas Vazquez.
72 min Marcelo smacks it wide! But that was all about Isco, with a preposterous dribble. It looked like he was going to run through the entire defence, and it fell to Marcelo on the edge of the box, but he flashed it wide! Isco has been ridiculously good today.
70 min Twenty minutes to go. Don’t bet against more goals.
69 min Marco Asensio tries to go into the box, but Mere does well to ease him off it and win the goal kick. Moi Gomez is replaced by Nacho Cases.
66 min Real knocking at the door now, and Morata goes close with another header. Sporting just can’t get out of their own half.
64 min Mega scramble in the Sporting defence, and Lucas Vazquez heads against the bar, but the whistle had gone for an offside.
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63 min At the other end, Isma Lopez goes close! The left back ran through the Real defence, which declined to tackle him, and placed his shot just wide of the post! Sporting aren’t out of this.
62 min Now Danilo heads wide from a James free kick! Just the wrong side of the post.
60 min A classical header from Morata, who got up above Babin and thumped a header into the bottom corner. A slight suspicion of pushing, but ref Fernandez Borbalan said goal. Great cross from Danilo.
GOAL! Sporting 2-2 Real Madrid (Morata 59)
But this time he gets it! Danilo’s cross, and Morata powers a header beyond Cuellar. 2-2!
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58 min A wonderful cross from the left by James, teased into the six-yard box, but no Real player could apply the finish. Morata ducked!
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56 min Marcelo is on, and Fabio Coentrao is the man replaced.
55 min Zidane looks a little tetchy on the Real Madrid bench. Marcelo is ready to come on for the visitors.
53 min Babin was absolutely free as a bird at the back post on that free kick. And Vesga arched his back and placed his header right where Casilla couldn’t reach. Somehow, for all their fine attacking play, Real find themselves behind. Work to do.
51 min Moments after that Cuellar save, Sporting won a free kick in the Real half. Carmona lofted it in, Babin won the first header, and Mikel Vesga looped a header up and over Casilla from about 15 yards! A really well placed finish, but the Real defending left a lot to be desired. Not that Sporting will care. They lead for a second time!
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GOAL! Sporting 2-1 Real Madrid (Mikel Vesga 50)
Amazing! Sporting lead again!
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47 min Isco! More terrific skill from the little wizard, and he draws a foul, right on the corner edge of the box, left side. James teases it in, Nacho heads towards goal, and how has that stayed out?! Cuellar stopped it, and Morata looked certain to gobble up the rebound, but it slithered between post and striker, and wide! That should be a corner, though, no? I don’t think Morata touched it. Great save by Cuellar, though.
46 min We’re back. No changes at the break. Today’s attendance at El Molinon: 23,745.
Well, that was very enjoyable! Sporting took a shock lead through Duje Cop, who cottoned on to Mikel Vesga’s sultry scooped pass and finished really well, but then Isco evened things up with a goal that was arguably even better. He went right, then left, then left again – the Sporting defenders went to buy a hot dog – and the finish was pure silk, into the top corner. Real have been on top since the goal, but just haven’t been able to get that second. All square at the break. See you in 15.
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Half-time: Sporting 1-1 Real Madrid
No stoppage time, and that’s the whistle.
45 min Sporting need half-time. Real come again through Isco, who’s been magic in this first half. Such impeccable control and vision – he’s been at the centre of all Real’s play.
44 min He did, but it hit the wall. Corner to Real, but it’s cleared.
43 min Danilo is fouled by Isma Lopez about three yards outside the penalty box on the right side. I fancy James to smash this one at goal.
41 min Real are cranking it up. Coentrao smashes it across the face of goal, and three Sporting players let it go, but it won’t quite fall to a white shirt.
39 min Sporting’s attacking threat has been sporadic since the Real Madrid goal, but here’s a corner on the left. It’s a disappointing cross, though, and Casilla punches clear.
37 min Almost a lovely counter-attacking goal from Real! It was all about Kovacic, with some lovely feet and a surging run through midfield, and he fed James, but he couldn’t quite pick out Lucas Vazquez at the back post. Real have enjoyed 70% of possession in this game.
36 min Lillo crosses straight in Casilla’s arms. At the other end, James does the same for Cuellar.
34 min Marco Asensio escapes in the centre circle, and Sergio Alvarez pulls him back, for which the Sporting captain is booked.
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32 min Isma Lopez gets clear on the left side, but his cross is disappointing, and Real clear.
29 min Morata has the ball in the net, but the whistle had gone for offside. It was the right call, but the pass from Isco to set up the chance was beauts. Perhaps not quite as good as Xavi’s famous defence-splitter against Malaga, but close.
27 min Oh, another header that a Real player might have done better with. This time it was Lucas Vazquez with the cross, and Morata rose well, but got underneath it and headed it over. Chance.
25 min Now Sporting win a corner. Knocked in by Carmona, but Real stand tall and head it away.
24 min Real are just starting to motor, with Isco and James at the heart of things. Sporting focused on defence for the moment.
22 min Isco is hacked by Sergio Alvarez, and it’s a free kick on the left side. No card for the Sporting player, although it probably should have been. James’s cross is headed clear.
20 min Two really fine goals. The first a lovely imaginative pass and clean finish; the second a dribble and shot of the highest order. Magnifico! Let’s have some more of this, please.
18 min Well, that was just individual class. Isco picked it up in the penalty box, danced round about three Gijon defenders, who couldn’t lay a foot on him, and curled a left-footer past Cuellar. Brilliant goal.
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GOAL! Sporting 1-1 Real Madrid (Isco 17)
What a goal! Isco levels, and Sporting’s lead lasted just three minutes!
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15 min A really super goal from Sporting, and we have a game! It’s Sporting’s first home goal against Real since 1994, and it was worth the wait. It was played inside to Mikel Vesga, 30 yards out, and he scooped a terrific pass over the Real defence to Cop, who had made a fine run, and the Croatian lashed it home on the volley! Great pass, great finish; great goal. It’s on!
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GOAL! Sporting 1-0 Real Madrid (Cop 14)
That’s a lovely goal! Sporting lead!
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11 min Danilo crosses from the right, Lucas Vazquez gets free, but heads it over from eight yards! That was a big chance. A beautiful cross from Danilo, and a free header for Vazquez. Ronaldo would have scored that. Jeff Astle certainly would have.
9 min Coentrao with a blast, but it’s off Lillo and out for a throw. Now a free kick for the visitors in a decent position on the left. James – remember him?! – plays it in, and there’s a moment of panic in the Sporting defence, but it’s safely through to Cuellar.
7 min Close for Sporting! It was played to back post, Cop knocked it back, but Carmona just couldn’t get a decent connection, and lifted it over the bar! Nacho perhaps did enough to put him off, but that was good stuff from the home side.
5 min Lucas Vazquez goes again down the right side, but the hosts do just enough to hustle it clear. It’s been a good start by LV.
3 min A lively start from Sporting, but then Real win it back, and suddenly it’s four on three for the visitors. Lucas Vazquez is stopped by Jorge Mere, though. Good defending.
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Peep peep!
1 min We’re under way; 57F and cloudy skies. Sporting in red and white with that lovely pop of blue in the shorts and socks. Real all in white.
Sergio Ramos tosses up with Sergio Alvarez. Here’s a provocative question: is Sergio Ramos the best central defender in the world? I think he could be!
The teams are in the tunnel. Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, Gijon-born and a former Sporting player, must be counting on his old team to do his current one a favour.
Top stat: Real have scored at least one goal in their past 42 games in La Liga. And that becomes 53 if you count European competition. That’s how you do it, José!
Barcelona play Real Sociedad later on today, so Real can open up a six-point gap at the top – for the time being, at least. Atletico, who aren’t quite out of the title race, take on Osasuna, and Deportivo beat Malaga 2-0 in the day’s early game, thanks to goals from Joselu and Pedro Mosquera.
So, as expected, many changes for Real Madrid – nine of them, in fact. Only Nacho and Sergio Ramos keep their places from Wednesday’s win at Bayern Munich, and Fabio Coentrao makes his first start of the season. Morata, Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio should make up Real’s front three.
Sporting’s Burgui is missing through suspension, but Duje Cop is fit again after injury, and takes his place in the starting XI as Sporting go 5-4-1.
Today's lineups
Sporting: 1-Ivan Cuéllar, 3-Jean-Sylvain Babin, 5-Fernando Amorebieta, 4-Jorge Meré, 18-Isma López, 16-Lillo, 22-Mikel Vesga, 6-Sergio Álvarez, 23-Moi Gómez, 19-Carlos Carmona, 24-Duje Cop. Substitutes: 15-Roberto Canella, 21-Xavi Torres, 13-Diego Mariño, 10-Nacho Cases, 9-Carlos Castro, 20-Dani Ndi, 17-Akram Afif.
Real Madrid: 13-Kiko Casilla, 4-Sergio Ramos, 6-Nacho, 15-Fábio Coentrão, 23-Danilo, 16-Mateo Kovacic, 10-James Rodríguez, 22-Isco, 21-Álvaro Morata, 20-Marco Asensio, 17-Lucas Vázquez. Substitutes: 19-Luka Modric, 12-Marcelo, 8-Toni Kroos, 14-Casemiro, 25-Rubén Yáñez, 18-Mariano, 27-Tejero.
Referee: David Fernández Borbalán
Hello and welcome
It’s probably about time Real Madrid won a league, isn’t it? This fine old footballing institution hasn’t won La Liga since 2011-12, which seems like an age, considering they’ve won a record 32 domestic championships in total. But it looks increasingly like Real might end their title drought this season: they sit three points clear of Barcelona at the top, with a game in hand, and victory today would present ideal preparation before next weekend’s classic at the Bernabeu.
Real come into this one off the back of a superb 2-1 comeback win over Bayern in midweek, and Sporting are struggling, five points off safety and staring relegation in the face. However, it’s not a complete gimme for Zidane’s men: injury and suspensions mean it’ll be a shuffled pack today. No Ronaldo, no Bale, no Pepe, no Karim Benzema, for various reasons, so the onus is on Real’s slightly lesser lights: Morata, Isco and James will be given the opportunity to shine. Sporting beat Real at the Bernabeu in 2011, but they’ve lost 12 of the last 15 against today’s opponents, and their last victory over Real at El Molinon was all the way back in 1994.
Kick-off’s in 45 minutes or so. Join us then.
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Tim will be here shortly. In the meantime, catch up on this excellent interview with Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata, and the pressures, insecurities and fallibilities footballers experience:
Buffon’s advice paints a harsh portrait. Is football so unforgiving, weakness so preyed upon? Was Morata especially vulnerable? Is he? Alice arrived and he says he has matured but talking to him, sensitivity shows. That experience, a realisation of football’s realities, make him even more interesting company. Morata is intelligent, introspective, unusually willing to discuss aspects of the game that are not just the game – and which he believes have impacted his career.
He talks about how what happens off the pitch can permeate your play and how what happens on the pitch can affect you off it, missed chances lurking in your mind; about how other factors, other people, things beyond your control, condition you. Football is not exactly as he imagined it, he admits; life isn’t. “The good things are incredible, better than you ever imagined – scoring a goal at the Bernabéu, or in the Champions League; the bad are harder.” The work, sacrifice, the exposure. A short career, which may be no bad thing: “Thirty, 40 years like this and some people would go mad.
“Sometimes I go home, put the game on and think: ‘How can I miss that?’ It affects you; it also affects you to know your career also depends on the opinion of journalists, fans, directors, and sometimes they’re not really qualified to judge. In my position, what matters is goals. ‘Did he score? No? Una mierda de partido [a shit game].’ They don’t know the movement, everything you’ve done. Your life can change in a moment, depending if the ball goes in. In a week, I went from people shouting, ‘Leave Madrid!’ to scoring against Sporting and then, ‘Hey, saviour!’ You can’t think you’re God when you score an important goal or the worst player around when its going badly.”
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