Friday, May 18th, 2012
Gonzalo Higuain scored his 10th goal in as many games to fire Real Madrid to the top of La Liga thanks to a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad at Anoeta on Saturday night.
Los Blancos huffed and puffed for their victory, their eighth on the spin, but the hosts could have stopped Jose Mourinho’s men leaving with all three points had they been more imaginative and attack-minded against a Madrid side putting in an under-par performance in San Sebastian.
As it was, they registered just two threatening attempts on Iker Casillas’ goal and fell to their fifth defeat from six matches. For Madrid, they reclaimed top spot following Barcelona’s thumping 5-0 win over Mallorca, with Levante, the previous leaders, taking on Osasuna on Sunday.
Mourinho brought Fabio Coentrao in at left-back for Marcelo, while Lass Diarra came in for Sami Khedira alongside Xabo Alonso in midfield, Mesut Ozil was recalled in place of Kaka and Higuain replaced Benzema as the centre forward.
Madrid came bursting out of the traps against Villarreal in midweek but their opening at Anoeta was slightly more conservative, although Ronaldo did fire the first effort on goal after five minutes following good work by Higuain, Claudio Bravo was, however, equal to his effort.
Los Blancos scored twice inside the first ten minutes against the Yellow Submarines and they found the back of the net early on again through Higuain. Coentrao provided a superb ball for the Argentine to latch on to and he produced a neat finish over Bravo to give the visitors the lead – one they were never to relinquish.
They couldn’t turn that goal into domination and La Real hit back when Markel Bergara caught a sight of goal but saw his attempt charged down by the Madrid defence. The hosts also won a couple of corner kicks within the space of a few minutes but Casillas and his Madrid defence dealt with the danger in comfortable fashion.
The first 45 minutes proved relatively uneventful, although Sergio Ramos saw a header saved and Ronaldo, looking for his 100th goal for Los Blancos, had an effort charged down.
At 1-0 Philippe Montanier’s men were still in the contest, and although Madrid looked pretty comfortable on their lead at the start of the second half, they knew they needed a second goal to make the points secure.
The hosts were sensing a way back into the contest as the second half wore on and they registered their first shot on target on the hour mark when some sloppy play from Madrid allowed Arsenal loanee Carlos Vela a powerful shot on goal which Casillas parried before gathering at the second attempt.
As with the first half, Mourinho’s men enjoyed plenty of the ball in midfield but failed to provide any real sting in their attack as they searched for a second goal. It gave Sociedad hope and Casillas was called into action again when substitute Antoine Griezmann breezed by Lass Diarra before unleashing a powerful low strike which the Madrid stopper turned away for a corner.
They failed to build on their pressure, and although Madrid were looking far from convincing themselves in front of goal the visitors managed to see the game out in comfortable fashion to take maximum points back to the capital and climb to the top of La Liga.
FT: Real Sociedad 0 Real Madrid 1 (Higuaín 9)
Nicholas is currently Real Madrid correspondent for ESPN, and also runs ‘The Real Deal‘ blog. You can follow him on Twitter for regular updates on the club, live tweeting and more.
Tags: Real Madrid, Real Sociedad
