Friday, May 18th, 2012
Real Madrid’s woes continued as they slipped to a second home defeat in four days. Jose Mourinho made 8 changes to the team that started against Barcelona midweek with Cristiano Ronaldo left out of the match squad all together. The visitors came into the game just a point above the relegation zone but pulled out one of their performances of the season to move a step closer to safety.
In an even first half, Zaragoza took the lead four minutes before the interval when Lafita took advantage of a Casillas’ error to tap in from close range. Mourinho made no changes at the break and 10 minutes into the second half Zaragoza doubled their lead when Gabi stroked home a penalty after Carvalho had fouled Lafita in the box. The second goal signalled changes in the home side with Ozil and Di Maria coming on for Granero and Canales.
Just after the hour mark, Madrid got back into the game when Sergio Ramos headed home a corner. Soon after, Benzema came inches away from levelling the scores when he hit the bottom of the bar. That miss was to prove costly as Zaragoza broke forward on 77 minutes to extend their lead. Uche broke over the halfway line before excellently switching play to the unmarked Lafita who coolly slotted past Casillas.
The goalscoring wasn’t quite over yet as Karim Benzema reduced the deficit with five minutes to set up a nervous finish for the visitors. However the home side couldn’t find a third and were reduced to ten men when Ricardo Carvalho received a second yellow for hauling down Uche.
Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho, La Liga, Real Madrid 2 Real Zaragoza 3
