Friday, May 18th, 2012
Two points dropped for Madrid tonight and perhaps with it La Liga after they failed to come away from La Riazor with a victory needed to maintain a close proximity with Barcelona. In a match where Deportivo presented themselves as worthy opponents against a Madrid whom only into the second half really started to trouble the home team.
Chances were aplenty with both Adebayor and Ronaldo coming close to scoring, but against a solid backline they couldn’t find a way past a heroic Aranzubia in goal. In a stadium known as being forbidden territory for any visiting los blancos side intent on leaving victorious, with only one win in 18 seasons, the task Madrid found themselves with in shaking off this hoodoo proved to be a difficult one to overcome.
Mourinho opted to start Benzema supported by the trio of Ozil, Ronaldo and Kaka, Lass slotting into the double pivot role beside Alonso in place of the injured Khedira. Lotina, meanwhile, without sprung no surprises in sticking with a tried n tested 4-2-3-1, Sand the main outlet for any good work by Adrian, Juan Rodriguez and Guardado.
The first element of danger wasn’t long in coming for Deportivo, a Lopo foul on Ronaldo with four mins on the clock offering the Portuguese his first chance to test Aranzubia with his trade mark free kick, a chance missed as he struck the wall. An early Madrid attack quickly followed as Ozil found time to flight a delightful chip into the unmarked Ramos at the back post, whom ballooned his shot far and wide . Kaka, preferred to Di Maria in the starting line-up, interlinked well with Ramos and Ozil as Ramos to feed Benzema , whom, had just strayed offside. The Frenchman then returned the favour, laying off to Kaka at the edge of the area only for him to fire a shot over the bar. The early Madrid intent was easy to see.
As they continued to pressure Deportivo without causing too much concern for Aranzubia, Deportivo sought to take the game to Madrid themselves, and allow the defensive line some breathing space. Laure ventured down the right, skipped by Marcelo and crossed for Javi Rodriguez, who just couldn’t get up high enough to connect with a header and cause Casillas problems in goal. Lass then saved Madrid’s skin as he made a timely intervention to stop the lively Adrian from finding Sand in the box with a well-executed back heel when doing would have surely meant the Argentinian finding the target.
Madrid came out of the blocks early in the second half, Arranzubia had to have his wits about him to parry a Ronaldo shot inside the first thirty seconds. A further save was needed to turn a Kaka shot from the edge of the area wide whilst Ramos couldn’t further test the keeper when played in by Marcelo on the right hand side of the box. Deportivo weathered the early storm.
In between times Adrian came close to feeding Sand with a dangerous pass inside the box, too much pace taking it out for a goal kick. Adebayor and Di Maria came on soon after as Mourinho sought to maintain the tempo of his side and bring about a more direct style of play. Another Ronaldo freekick after Adebayor was fouled brought a smart save from Aranzubia, who was kept busy in a spell making further saves from an Adebayor volley off an Ozil cross. He then pushed a Di Maria shot wide after the ball rebounded off the post to the Argentinian’s feet , the chance coming off the back of a Ronaldo strike.
A foul on Adebayor brought another chance for Ronaldo to test the keeper but instead he opted to slide a weak pass through to Alonso, the Deportivo defence able to sniff out the danger posed. The breakdown in the move helping to confirm the sense that it wasn’t going to be Madrid’s night.
The panic wasn’t quite over for Deportivo with Benzema making a hash of Madrid’s best chance of the night, failing to connect from six yards with a Ronaldo cutback after Xavi had found him on the right hand side of the opposition box. With that the game came to a halt much to the delight of the home support who’s team battled to a precious point, a point which for Madrid leaves them with an uphill battle in the race for the title.
