Real Madrid moved into fourth place in La Liga on Sunday afternoon winning a scrappy affair with Huesca on the road. Gareth Bale scored the only goal in the 8th minute as Los Blancos secured a 1-0 win over the last-place side. Here is the full recap.
To be quite frank, this might have been the most boring game Real Madrid has played all season. After opening the accord in the eighth minute by way of a Gareth Bale stunner, Real Marid and lower table Huesca could not manage any quality chances on goal.
In total, the match saw 16 total shots on goal combined and Los Blancos actually struggled to maintain possession against a team that has won just one out of its first 15 matches.
Bale scored a fantastic goal to break his 800-minute goal drought in La Liga and has been on fire as of late as he has scored in the last two Champions League matches and now in this match.
—10 games
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 9, 2018
—100 days
—802 minutes@GarethBale11’s Liga goal drought is finally over 🌊⚽⚪ pic.twitter.com/dPHPDPisdR
Bale looked confident in taking the cross from Odriozola first time and struck it perfectly into the bottom corner of the net.
We saw relatively the same lineup from manager Santiago Solari that we have seen in the last few weeks in important matches with the likes of Álvaro Odriozola, Marcos Llorente, and Lucas Vazquez in the starting XI.
Although this squad has been known to dominate the possession and the chances in a match, they had to adapt to poor weather conditions that affected the flow of the game. Solari made reference to this in his post-match remarks, saying:
"“It was an imprecise, stop-start and very windy game. The wind is a factor which leads to sloppiness, even more so than the rain. It wasn’t a game to remember, but if you want to win LaLiga, you have to win these matches.”"
One of the interesting lineup choices made in this match was Dani Carvajal starting at left-back with Marcelo out of action. The usual right-back filled in brilliantly on the left and did a good job helping Sergio Ramos down the flank.
The win vaults Real Madrid into fourth place in La Liga, just two points behind Sevilla and Atletico Madrid and five behind first-place FC Barcelona.
The road ahead does not get much easier for Los Blancos who return home for a mid-week Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow. Solari can rotate his team heavily for the match since his team has already secured the top spot in the group.
Following the UCL match, Real will host Rayo Vallecano before traveling to Abu Dhabi for the FIFA Club World Cup.