Real Madrid 1 Sevilla 0
In the second main fixture of the Spanish League, Argentine international, Angel di Maria scored a vital 77th minute goal to lead his 10 men Real Madrid to an important victory over Sevilla (1-0) at the Satiago Bernabeu
on Sunday and brought the team two points behind the league leaders, Barcelona ahead of the Christmas break.
The 22 year old di Maria, signed by Real Madrid this summer from Benfica for 25 million Euro, put a shot past the goal keeper, Andres Palop, at the nearer post to maintain Real’s 100 percent home record ensuring Jose Mourinho’s
side move closer to the league leaders, Barcelona.
Real Madrid were down to 10 men in 63 minutes with the sending-off of the Portuguese international centre-back, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ricardo-Carvalho-c30973, but the hosts kept their nerve and then came di Maria for the great rescue, keeping his team second
on the table.
“It was a beautiful goal and the most important thing is it won the match,” said di Maria. “It was a difficult game and it became even more complicated with the sending-off. Real Madrid did everything they could and by the end,
managed to secure a great victory.
From the opponent’s perspective, Sevilla would have sensed the victory after the dismissal of Carvalho but couldn’t keep their hopes alive, losing the 5th match in a row and ending up 11th on the table.
Barcelona had a much easy win beating Espanyol 5-1 in the Catalan derby at the Cornella El Prat stadium the previous night, making their tenth successive league win, giving them a two point’s lead on the table.
Real Madrid had their win without due Marcelo and Xavi, who could not play due a suspension but the return of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Ramos-c33096 no doubt boosted the moral of the team.
French forward http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-Negredo-c5294 had his
point to prove himself against the aged club Real Madrid.
There were a series of corners coming Madrid’s way but Sevilla had their first real chance in the 25th minute when defender Julien Escude headed over from a close range. Just three minutes later, Plaop saved a shot from
de Maria, which was the only noticeable effort made by Real Madrid in the first half.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pepe-c29670 saved them with a last ditch challenge. At this point Sevilla looked ever more dangerous. Coming back from injury time, the hosts had an easy chance missed in the
57th minute when Luis Fabiano passed tremendously to Negerdo but ironically failed to keep the ball in the net, blazing over the crossbar.
With 30 minutes to go, the referee Clos Gomez took the spotlight, to the detriment of Real Madrid when he left Carvalho with a second yellow card and off the ground. The word of mouth was that the dismissal seemed an unfair decision,
even later when he also failed to offer Granero a penalty shot, after being repeatedly obstructed by Escude inside the box.
The dismissal among nine other bookings seemed to hit Madrid right on, when di Maria got lucky after a mistake from the goalkeeper, Plaop, firing home at the 77th minute. Sevilla also had their man sent off for a reckless
challenge on di Maria after which they not only lost their cool but also the match.
Real Madrid won the match against all odds, defeating Sevilla 1-0. Sevilla were defensive right from the start of the match which aided the Madridistas finding the pace to their game.
It must be said that Madridistas deserved to win because they never gave up but now all their eyes are set on their clash with Levante in the Copa del Rey this Wednesday.
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