Eibar beat Real Madrid for the first time in their history as they ended Los Blancos' mini-revival under Santiago Solari with a 3-0 victory on Saturday.
See how the match unfolded at Ipurua with our liveblog!
Gonzalo Escalante, Sergi Enrich and Kike Garcia all got on the scoresheet to condemn Madrid to a miserable afternoon, but the star of the show was Barcelona loanee Marc Cucurella, who played a role in each of Eibar's goals.
Raphael Varane had been out since the end of October with a thigh injury, but the defender proved his fitness during France’s 2-0 defeat to Netherlands last week and partnered Sergio Ramos, who was facing fresh accusations of doping.
However, Casemiro and Nacho Fernandez both pulled up during Madrid’s 4-2 win at Celta Vigo before the international break. Consequently, Alvaro Odriozola got the nod at right-back, despite Dani Carvajal’s inclusion on the substitutes’ bench, and Dani Ceballos came into midfield.
New boss Santiago Solari won his first four games at the helm and Los Blancos had never lost to Eibar, winning seven of their eight Liga meetings and drawing the other.
The Basques, meanwhile, were five points behind Madrid in the table and without as many first-team players in Jordi Calavera, Anaitz Arbilla, Pape Diop, Marko Dmitrovic and Pedro Leon.
The game’s first attempt came bright and early like the kick-off time as Kiko Garcia unleashed a looping volley from some way out, which Thibaut Courtois seemed to brush on to the post with his fingertips.
Madrid responded when Marco Asensio broke down the left before teeing up Karim Benzema, whose close-range finish was hacked away just before it could beat veteran shot-stopper Asier Riesgo.
Nonetheless, Cucurella was onside down the far left – and so was midfield enforcer Gonzalo Escalante when he bundled in a low cross, with VAR confirming its legitimacy.
Alvaro Odriozola was caught in possession by the impressive Cucurella, whose square ball was fired across Courtois by Enrich early on in the second half.
Cucurella was then involved in a third Eibar goal, drilling a low cross for Kike to tap in, but Courtois was on hand to tip over Fabian Orellana’s strike after he had nutmegged Ceballos.
Benzema looked to put an afternoon of constant offside calls behind him, but Riesgo smothered their one-on-one.
At the other end, Courtois gifted possession to Eibar but made amends in Keylor Navas-esque fashion, smothering Charles in a flash, before the goalkeeper pushed away a Kike volley late on.
Eibar 3-0 Real Madrid
Escalante 16, Enrich 52, Kike 57
Eibar: Riesgo; Pena, Oliveira, Ramis, Jose Angel; Orellana (Alvarez 83), Escalante, Jordan, Cucurella; Enrich (Charles 74), Kike (De Blasis 88)
Real Madrid: Courtois; Odriozola (Carvajal 54), Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric (Isco 63), Kroos, Ceballos; Bale, Benzema, Asensio (Vinicius 74)
Referee: Martinez Munuera
