In a game where Real Madrid let Elche come back to tie, Carlos Espi came off the bench to rescue the merengue side once again, scoring the 2-3 in added time.
The match began somewhat shakily, with broad dominance by Real Madrid over the home team, but with little precision in the opposing area. Something that had been criticized for several matches already. Failures on the final pass or trying to make one pass too many, as well as a miss in front of the goalkeeper by Vinicius Junior after an excellent pass from Arda Guler, were what deprived the merengue team of opening the score during the first quarter of an hour.
After 25 minutes full of errors in the build-up by Elche, which Madrid could not properly take advantage of, the wonder boy, Arda Guler, had to arrive and took a free kick excellently toward the goalkeeper's post, so angled that goalkeeper Matias Dituro did not dive for the ball, which ended up hitting the post and bouncing on the goal line, hitting the hand of the goalkeeper, who remained static, and went in off that rebound. A somewhat strange goal, but it was all thanks to the Turk.
In the 33rd minute, one of the most questioned players, Yan Diomande, who was again a starter for this match, was finally able to contribute with a goal for the team. After a through ball from Trent Alexander-Arnold that put the Ivorian running down the right flank, he beat the Elche defender in speed and put an excellent pass to Kylian Mbappe so that he could shoot head-on at the goalkeeper, and the Frenchman, with his quality, did not hesitate to place it close to the left post to make the game 0-2 for the visitors.
After 25 minutes of the second half, in which the match became slow, without much intention from both teams to create danger, it was precisely in the 71st minute when Lucas Cepeda shook off Jude Bellingham and Trent to reach the byline and send in a precise cross that Abiel Osorio took advantage of with a great jump that completely won him the position over Marc Cucurella, and he shot against the opposite side of Thibaut Courtois, who, no matter how much he stretched his arm, could not stop the header. With this, the locals closed the score to 1-2.
Madrid looked somewhat complacent with the result in its favor, and practically no intensity was seen from it during the second half. This was what sealed its fate, because in the 82nd minute, Fer Nino received the ball from Josan, turned around, and took a precise shot that went across the entire area and went in close to Courtois' right post, making the score 2-2 and snatching 2 very valuable points from the Chamartin side.
Or that was what it seemed, because in stoppage time, specifically in the 91st minute, the recently substituted Carlos Espi saved the team again after a self-pass by Bellingham on the left flank and then filtering a pass to Mbappe, who arrived alongside Espi in a two-on-one against the goalkeeper, who could do nothing after the Frenchman's pass that left the ex-Levante player alone to make a simple pass into the net, recovering the 3 very valuable points to tie Barcelona.
Real Madrid Player Ratings:
T. Courtois: 6.3
M. Cucurella: 5.8
D. Huijsen: 6.5
I. Konate: 6.8
T. Alexander-Arnold: 7.1
A. Tchouameni: 6.9
F. Valverde: 7.0
Vinicius Junior: 5.8
Arda Guler: 7.2
Y. Diomande: 7.3
K. Mbappe: 8.6
Elche FC Player Ratings:
M. Dituro: 6.5
B. Sangare: 6.2
F. Redondo: 7.2
V. Chust: 6.2
R. Revivo: 6.1
G. Valera: 6.8
M. Neto: 6.3
M. Aguado: 6.2
G. Villar: 6.7
T. Morente: 6.7
A. Osorio: 7.9
Sofascore's statistical engine generated the ratings.
