Real Madrid were made to sweat against Sporting Gijon as they survived Duje Cop’s missed penalty in a narrow 2-1 victory on Saturday.
Gareth Bale’s long layoff opened the door for James Rodriguez, albeit in a central-midfield position, as Pepe also returned and Casemiro was a substitute. However, Raphael Varane was not risked after he picked up a knock against Sporting CP midweek.
A fast start was witnessed at a rain-sodden Santiago Bernabeu as Carlos Carmona only had Keylor Navas to beat after he was slipped in behind, with Los Blancos’ offside trap horribly averted, but the midfielder somehow shot wide from a couple of yards out.
Moments later, at the other end, Isma Lopez tripped Lucas Vazquez in the Sporting box, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to put Madrid ahead from the penalty spot, despite Diego Marino having guessed correctly down to his left.
Nacho then picked Ronaldo out to perfection with an angled cross at Marino’s far post, which the No 7 dived onto and sent past the goalkeeper.
Ronaldo’s brace marked both the sixth season running that he scored 50 or more goals for both club and country, plus the latter was Madrid’s 100th League goal of 2016.
Sergio Ramos, meanwhile, had an overhead kick from just inside Sporting’s box that crashed against the Sporting crossbar, but Nacho Fernandez was offside when he toepoked the rebound home.
Moments after having a cross possibly blocked by Danilo’s right arm, however, Moi Gomez cut inside from the left and unleashed a daisy-cutter that Navas had to push away.
That chance didn’t prove an anomaly for the Asturians as Luka Modric’s misplaced pass in his own half set up Isma to centre the ball for Carmona to exquisitely flick past Navas first time.
The second half did not get going until the hour mark, when a great run from the makeshift left-back Nacho saw him tear down his flank and slide a shot straight at Marino.
At the other end, a cross from Barcelona loanee Douglas deflects a whisker away from the late run of an unmarked Duje Cop at Navas’ back post.
The opportunities began coming thick and fast, Vazquez coming agonisingly close to sliding home Madrid’s third goal after he read Ronaldo’s superbly-disguised free kick. The Portuguese had charged up to the set-piece yet merely dinked it into the penalty area.
With his first touch of the ball, however, substitute Victor Rodriguez won a penalty for Sporting after he turned Nacho in the Madrid box and prompted the defender to tug him back. Sadly for the visitors, Cop sent the spot-kick wide.
The Croat almost made amends for his penalty miss with a shot across Navas from the left that the goalkeeper needed to get a hand to, before Benzema cut a cross back for Vazquez that rolled a matter of centimetres behind the winger.
Two more chances fell Madrid’s way, starting with Ronaldo on the counterattack, but the Sporting defence caught up with him as his shot from 20 yards out was saved by Marino. Isco then skipped past his full-back down the left but couldn’t keep his curling shot down.
Real Madrid 2-1 Sporting Gijon
Ronaldo pen 5, 18 (RM) Carmona 35 (SG)
Real Madrid: Navas; Danilo, Ramos (Marcelo 71), Pepe, Nacho; Kovacic (Isco 80), Modric, James (Asensio 71); Vazquez, Benzema, Ronaldo
Sporting Gijon: Marino; Isma, Lillo, Amorebieta, Mere, Douglas; Moi (Victor 75), Rachid (Cases 81), Sergio, Carmona (Viguera 74); Cop
Referee: Hernandez Hernandez
