Osasuna 1-3 Real Madrid
It felt symbolically as if Real Madrid had secured the league title with victory over Sevilla on Sunday night. Following victory over Osasuna, it has reached the point where people are counting down the points until they do so. In this case, four more are required.
Frenetic and frenzied, the match mirrored the stands at El Sadar during the early stages of the match. After just 12 minutes a ball to the far post was knocked back across goal by Karim Benzema. David Alaba directed it on goal only to be stopped by Sergio Herrera, before bundling in the rebound.
Just two minutes later however, Osasuna showed their appetite for a game by getting in behind Nacho Fernandez. Chimy Avila whipped the ball across the face of the six-yard box and Ante Budimir tapped in.
Sergio Herrera saves Karim Benzema's penalty! 😮
A big stop from the Osasuna keeper to keep his team in the game 🖐️ pic.twitter.com/vnS1iAbRsZ
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) April 20, 2022
At this point it looked as if Real Madrid might really struggle, with the Navarrans streaming forward and clogging up their offensive play. Luka Modric and Casemiro had been left out of the squad and Vinicius Junior was on the bench, meaning Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Ceballos, Marco Asensio and Rodrygo were all gifted starts by Carlo Ancelotti.
All but the latter had flattered to deceive at points in the first half, but Camavinga’s excellent clipped pass sailed over the defence and landed on Ceballos’ toe. Herrera kept it out again but Asensio followed up just before half-time.
The sourest note of the evening was that Alaba limped off at the break and didn’t return. When both sides did, Real Madrid managed to stretch Osasuna more in the second half. Rodrygo was at the heart of a good performance and won two successive penalties against Chimy Avila and Nacho Vidal. Karim Benzema stepped up to them both, Herrera dived low to his right for both and both were saved.
Despite the proximity of the scoreline, Osasuna struggled to cause the same issues for Madrid as they did in the first half. There wasn’t too much jeopardy in terms of the result save for when Budimir was located around the box.
Moving into the final minutes, Vinicius Junior was able to exploit the growing gaps as Osasuna pushed forward. He should have made it 3-1 before Lucas Vazquez did. Benzema ghosted out of a press in his own half, releasing Vinicius, who beat his man and squared for Vazquez.
As Herrera said after the match, Osasuna were happy for the fight they put up and the atmosphere. Real Madrid were happy to be a step closer to the title.
