Cadiz 0-2 Real Madrid: Without staples such as Vinícius Júnior and Toni Kroos, Real Madrid dealt with Cádiz on Saturday evening.
Real Madrid also knows how to win without goals from Benzema or Vinicius
Cadiz last won at home against Real Madrid in 1991, but after ten minutes they had a serious chance to score the opening goal. However, Alfonso Espino hit the post next to Thibaut Courtois. After that, it was mainly the visitors who took the initiative.
Karim Benzema, for example, was close to scoring after a great combination with Marco Asensio, but goalkeeper David Gil saved on the effort of the Frenchman. It wasn’t going to be Benzema’s night anyway. The capitán of Real hit the crossbar and the post in the remainder of the match.
Cádiz also had chances in between, but it was Nacho Fernández who opened the score on behalf of Real twenty minutes before the end. He received the ball from Aurélien Tchouaméni and pushed it into the corner from the edge of sixteen: 0-1.
Nacho caused a dip at Cádiz and not much later the 0-2 followed. After a rush from Federico Valverde, Asensio placed the ball accurately with his left into the far corner. Carlo Ancelotti brought in Luka Modric and Eden Hazard in the final phase, but a third Madrid goal did not come.
Real Madrid seems to be ready for the second meeting with Chelsea
Real came through the dress rehearsal for the Champions League return against Chelsea unscathed. The duel with the struggling Londoners awaits next Tuesday. The gap with leader Barcelona in La Liga is now ten points.
In the Spanish press it rains compliments for Real. “Nobody has played football as well as Real Madrid this season,” said Tomás Roncero, the editor-in-chief of AS newspaper. And José Vicente Hernánez of Marca writes: “When the light turned green, Real Madrid took off like a Formula 1 car. And the team only stopped after the final whistle.”
One of the stars at Real was, again, Karim Benzema. The striker tried his best to crown his performance with a goal, but was unsuccessful. Ancelotti had planned in advance to take 35-year-old Benzema to the side early with a view to Chelsea away, but said afterwards that he could not bring himself to do so.
“It was so good, so fresh… I said beforehand that I would change it when he got tired,” said Ancelotti. “It hurt me a bit that he didn’t score, but it was a pleasure to watch him play. I simply couldn’t change him because I wanted to enjoy him on the field.”
