Madrid went wrong. What seemed like a mental rearmament with the classic victory then led to a team that lost momentum and struggled to create danger. In Elche they played a game dominated by tactics for an hour and the last 30 minutes with courage, but in neither case were they able to prevail against a local team with a lot of personality and who had answers to everything.
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Goals 1-0 minutes. 52: Aleix Febas. 1-1 minute. 77: Dean Huijsen. 2-1 minutes. 83: Álvaro Rodríguez. 2-2 minutes 86: Jude Bellingham.
Referee Francisco José Hernández Maeso
yellow cards David Affengruber (min. 56), Victor Chust (min. 67), Aleix Febas (min. 88) and Kylian Mbappe (min. 98)
The Whites still secured the lead, but their play and results reveal the crisis into which they have fallen. Third match in a row without a win, all three away, and third match in which Kylian Mbappé ends up empty. This time, on two loose balls, Huijsen and Bellingham managed to score again.
Xabi Alonso has recovered his more interventionist version in the eleven after some low profile days. Vinicius started on the bench for the first time since his great insult to the manager against Barcelona, the defense of three central defenders with two wingers (including Trent Alexander-Arnold) had been suspended almost since the return of the Club World Cup, and no defensive linchpin appeared in the center of the pitch. A bet that didn’t pay off.
The night was presented as a duel of blackboardstwo coaches who love moving the pieces and tightening the board. The two high-pressure teams faced each other one after the other and a release of the ball turned into a thriller. Every action occurred on the brink of a loss that would be fatal. Perhaps anticipating this situation, Xabi brought out Ceballos and Arda Güler, without any shield at his side, to try to break the lines with the pass and up with Rodrygo. However, among so many tactics and many barbs, the one most at ease was Elche, Eder Sarabia’s signature team.
As bold as their coach, the local team expressed itself with personality, pressed high and managed to get in front of Courtois twice, once again the best of the whites. Carreras loses the ball and the ball falls to Rafa Mir, who is unable to get around the Belgian. Mir, almost alone, also waited for a pass from Da Silva which never arrived due to lack of strength. And the meringue giraffe appeared again to frustrate Da Silva.
Mbappé also had them, stopped by a great Peña in the save and on the counterattack in which the last pass went long. But the music that governed the Martínez Valero was from Elche. Real Madrid couldn’t find their way, every attack was a hieroglyph against a rival well positioned on the pitch and working during the week despite having gone five games without winning.
It didn’t take long for the feelings of the match to transfer to the scoreboard. The long chain of passes that Real Madrid failed to weave was created by Elche. Beautiful backheel from Germán Valera for Aleix Febas, who gets rid of Trent, places the Real Madrid youngster in front of Courtois and slides him to the edge. Enough to trigger the crisis cabinet on the Real Madrid bench.
Four changes almost in a row
Xabi’s reaction is automatic, three changes in one fell swoop: Ceballos, Rodrygo and Fran García out, Vinicius, Camavinga and Valverde in. And goodbye to the defense made up of three central defenders plus two wingers. And after five minutes, more wood: Gonzalo García for Güler, a player who has faded as the days went by. Especially since it starts in a more rearward position. If in Liverpool and Vallecas Alonso had been accused of a certain paralysis in making decisions that would have changed the course, this time he put the scalpel deep.
Real Madrid lacked a long half hour to find the match, but that didn’t happen. Álvaro Núñez interrupts a deadly pass from Vini to Mbappé, and a rebound from Elche ends up on the crossbar. The match stopped and turned into a road race. Screw the blackboard. This should have benefited Real Madrid, but who said fear in Elche? On the attack? Well, on the attack. The meeting was disorganized and the one chasing her was disorganized
Álvaro Rodríguez, a former Real Madrid player, who launched a personal move, surrounded by less than zealous defenders, cut past Asencio and surprised Courtois. Bellingham still manages to recover the equalizer and in the 94th minute Gonzalo finds himself half a meter away due to Xabi’s desperation for the third. That’s all for another Madrid short. “It’s football,” Alonso said.
