Bale, Ronaldo hand Real Madrid relief at Eibar

Bale, Ronaldo hand Real Madrid relief at Eibar

Bale, Ronaldo hand Real Madrid relief at Eibar

Real Madrid got their La Liga title challenge back
on course despite an underwhelming
performance as goals from Gareth Bale and
Cristiano Ronaldo handed them a 2-0 win at
Eibar on Sunday.
In front of a capacity 6,000 crowd at
Ipurua, Madrid did little to dispel the
doubts caused by their 4-0 thrashing by
Barcelona last weekend but Bale’s first-
half header and a late penalty from
Ronaldo were enough for all three
points.
Madrid remain in third, but victory
takes Rafael Benitez’s men back to
within six points of league leaders Barca
and two points of city rivals Atletico
Madrid.
Eibar have enjoyed a stellar start to just
their second season in the top flight, but
as against Barcelona and Atletico Madrid
in their only other two prior defeats this
season, they didn’t have enough quality
to trouble Madrid in the final third.
After a slow start, Ronaldo was
presented with a great chance to open
the scoring on 15 minutes from James
Rodriguez’s fine through ball, but he
couldn’t lift the ball over the advancing
Asier Riesgo and Mateo Kovacic
wastefully fired the rebound over.
Luka Modric’s fierce strike from the edge
of the area was also comfortably handled
by Riesgo as the pressure built from
Madrid.
And it told when Modric’s brilliant cross
was flicked home at the near post by
Bale for his first goal for Madrid in three
months since netting twice against Real
Betis on August 29.
The Welshman could have had a second
moments later as he brilliantly
controlled a long ball into the box, but
lacked the power needed in his final
effort to beat Riesgo.
Bale turned provider at the start of the
second period with a pinpoint cross for
Ronaldo only for the Portuguese to fluff
his lines when attempting an overhead
kick.
Aleksandar Pantic had Eibar’s best
chance to level when he headed over
when unmarked from a corner on the
hour mark.
However, the hosts were lucky moments
later when referee Gil Manzano was
unmoved despite an apparent push by
David Junca on Ronaldo inside the area.
Ronaldo’s wayward afternoon in front of
goal continued when he somehow failed
to hit the target with the goal at his
mercy after rounding Riesgo from Lucas
Vazquez’s pass.
Yet, he was gifted the chance to register
his 16th goal of the season when
Manzano did point to the spot after
Vazquez went down under minimal
contact from Dani Garcia eight minutes
from time.
Earlier, Villarreal missed the chance to
move back into the top four as their
awful form continued with a 2-0 defeat
at Getafe.
Angel Lafita and Alvaro Vazquez struck
for the hosts to leave Villarreal still in
sixth having won just one of their last
seven league games.