The Real Champs
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Isco Saves the Day For Real Madrid With a Stunning Performance, Beat Sporting Gijon 3-2

By Ben Sundock

GIJON, SPAIN - APRIL 15: Isco of Real Madrid celebrates with his teammates Alvaro Morata of Real Madrid after scoring his team's third goal during the La Liga match between Real Sporting de Gijon and Real Madrid at Estadio El Molinon on April 15, 2017 in Gijon, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
GIJON, SPAIN - APRIL 15: Isco of Real Madrid celebrates with his teammates Alvaro Morata of Real Madrid after scoring his team's third goal during the La Liga match between Real Sporting de Gijon and Real Madrid at Estadio El Molinon on April 15, 2017 in Gijon, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images) /
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You could argue that Isco had a near perfect game in Gijón Saturday afternoon against the relegation zone dwellers Sporting de Gijón as Real Madrid won 3-2 to stay top of the league. Ben Sundock gives you the review of a surprisingly  close, and fun to watch match between the Spanish giants and the Gijón.

(Photo by fotopress/Getty Images)
(Photo by fotopress/Getty Images) /

First Half

The first half began with plenty of possession from Real Madrid, who looked to work the wings and had plenty of space in the midfield, with Sporting Gijón dropping between 8 and 10 players back at a time, taking in the Real Madrid attack and limiting crosses to the middle.

A probing run by Lucas Vasquez in the 11th minute was the only true chance of the opening half, after a great cross from Danilo, Vasquez completely misjudged his power on the header and sent the ball well over the crossbar.

With no true chances from either side for the first 13 minutes, it caught everyone off guard when Mikel Vesga chipped the ball over the Real Madrid back four, onto the in stride foot of Duje Cop, who beat Madrid goalkeeper Kiko Casilla to the low corner to surprisingly put the home side up 1-0.

It didn’t take long for Real to answer as Isco, to begin his Man of the Match performance, ran through the Sporting defense into the box, beating three defenders on the dribble, to score a world class goal in the top corner of the net to tie the game.

Before the goal, Isco had created several chances and made several good attacking runs. It was a shame he didn’t get a better look at goal before this one, but Isco created plenty of chances, both from inside and outside the box, in front of goal.

Real kept most of the possession after the goal tied things up in the 17th minute. Sergio Alvararez of Sporting picked up the first yellow of the match in the 21st minute. Other than a Morata chance, and a couple of corners for Real, there no true chances to score, as Real Madrid maintained possession, but just couldn’t the net.

The two teams went into the locker room tied at one.

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