Leganes 1 – 3 Real Madrid: Match recap
By Alex McVey
Real Madrid defeated Leganes with a 1-3 scoreline, as Madrid pick up a crucial three points from this make-up La Liga match.
First Half
Real Madrid seem to be allergic to keeping a clean sheet this season, and the match against Leganes proved to be no exception. Madrid went down a goal just six minutes into the first half. Los Blancos were looking shaky at the back, and Leganes were pressing forward looking for a goal. Leganes won a corner, which nobody from Madrid seemed capable of dealing with. Unai Bustinza got to the end of the corner, and Kiko Casilla made a save, but the save was weak and just back out to Bustinza who pushed the ball back into the net. It was a sloppy affair, and characteristic of Madrid’s defensive troubles this season.
Leganes’ lead wouldn’t last long, though. Lucas Vazquez found Madrid’s equalizer in the 11th minute after some great give-and-go play between Benzema and Casemiro. Casemiro dummied the ball through to Vazquez who slotted a low skipping shot perfectly past the keeper.
Madrid continued to look strong in attack and weak in defense. Casemiro was pushed far up the pitch, often being relied upon to help the transition into attack. This created some defensive instability at the back.
However, the Casemiro as attacking midfielder role ended up coming good for Madrid. Benzema once again was at the center of affairs for Madrid’s second goal. Benzema produced some great build-up play in the center of the park, passing to Vazquez who put Casemiro through on goal. The Brazilian slotted away, and with that, Madrid went up 1-2.
A goal and an assist already this evening for Lucas Vazquez. 7 goals, 8 assists in all comps this season.
— Alex Kirkland (@alexkirkland) February 21, 2018
A big shoutout to Lucas Vazquez. Despite coming in for a lot of criticism from some sections of the Madrid fanbase, Vazquez is quietly putting in performance after performance which mark him as one of Madrid’s best players this season.
Second Half
Leganes’ coach Asier Garitano decided to shuffle the deck ahead of the second half, making two substitutions at halftime – Mantovani for Siovas and Perez for Gumbau. With these subs, it looked as if Leganes were committed to increasing the pressure and intensity on Madrid in the second half, which began as a choppy, contested affair.
Around the 60th minute, Leganes really began growing into the match and putting Madrid under serious pressure. Madrid were lucky to not have conceded the equalizer, after a last ditch save from Kiko Casilla saved Madrid’s blushes.
The match carried on with Leganes pushing forward and testing Madrid, and Madrid mostly content to see out the one goal lead. Zidane ultimately brought on Bale and Marcos Llorente to try to see the game out. In the dying moments of the match, Mateo Kovacic was brought down in the box for a penalty. Sergio Ramos, in lieu of the rested Cristiano Ronaldo, stepped up to take the penalty and slotted it away.
Next: Is Marcelo's injury serious?
This was a make-up for a match Madrid had to miss earlier in the season. Picking up three points here goes a long way to ensuring Real Madrid won’t slip out of the Champions League spots in La Liga.