An early goal from Mariano Diaz was cancelled out by Ruben Soriano as Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw by Cadiz.
The home side should probably have won the game in the second half, but an Alvaro Negredo spot kick was saved by Andriy Lunin – Negredo’s first La Liga penalty miss in a decade.
With plenty left to play for, Cadiz started brightly and almost took the lead through Sobrino. The wide player launched an audacious half-volley toward goal from the guts of 25-yards out, and although very well hit the ball flew just wide of the top left corner.
That promising start was abruptly ended by Real in the fifth minute. The goal was scored by Diaz, but wouldn’t have been possible with some outstanding play from Rodrygo who burst past three players before squaring to his teammates inside the six-yard box.
Despite Cadiz enjoying the lionshare of possession thereafter, the visitors looked much more likely to score when they got into the offensive third.
And they almost added a second in the 12th minute, when a quick counter attack culminated in Marco Asensio being played through on goal on the right of the penalty area. After controlling the ball however, Asensio side-footed a rather tame effort goalward – one which was comfortably saved by Jeremias Ledesma.
Cadiz finally created their first clear-cut chance in the 35th minute, when Oussama Idrissi burst into the box. The former Sevilla man’s strike on goal was brilliant saved by Lunin – who dived to his left to tip the ball wide of the post.
Moments later, the home side deservedly got their goal. It would from Sobrino, who latched onto a poor headed clearance from Eder Militao before cannoning the ball off the upright and into the back of the net.
Real wrestled some control back at the start of the second half, with Toni Kroos beginning to control the tempo of the game. Then they thought they’d lost it in the 60th minute when they gave away a penalty, with Lunin bringing down Negredo inside the box.
Luckily for Los Blancos, Lunin guessed right to save the resulting spot kick, diving to his right to deny the former Middlesbrough man.
Negredo spurned another chance to give his side an all-important lead five minutes later after being played through on goal by Lucas Perez, but his left-footed effort was saved by Lunin.
The next chance of the game would again fall to a Cadiz player, this time Sobrino. The attacker rose highest from a corner kick, but could only head the ball over the crossbar from eight yards out.
Here are your player ratings…
GK – Andriy Lunin – 8/10 – Made a brilliant save in the first half, and then made an even better stop to prevent Negredo from scoring a penalty kick. Real Madrid’s best player.
RB – Jesus Vallejo – 3/10 – Struggled up against Idrissi on the flank.
CB – Eder Militao – 2/10 – His poor header led to Cadiz’s goal in the first half. You can see why Real are trying to sign Antonio Rudiger.
CB – Nacho Fernandez – 3/10 – Ran ragged by Negredo. Yep, Negredo. That tells you all you need to know.
LB – Lucas Vazquez – 5/10 – Worked up and down the flank, but did really provide much quality on the ball.
CM – Federico Valverde – 6/10 – He had his work cut out covering for Vallejo, but did it fairly well.
CM – Casemiro – 4/10 – Didn’t really put in much of a shift today. Clearly wasn’t bothered.
CM – Toni Kroos – 6/10 – He didn’t really do much in the first half, but was more assured in the second and didn’t get injured – which is really all that counts.
RW – Marco Asensio – 4/10 – Spurned a decent chance in the first half and didn’t really do much else.
ST – Mariano Diaz – 6/10 – Scored the first goal of the game and didn’t touch the ball ever again.
LW – Rodrygo – 7/10 – His fantastic run led to the opening goal. Quiet after that.
SUB – Dani Ceballos – N/A.
SUB – Dani Carvajal – 6/10 – Better than Vallejo…obviously.
SUB – Eden Hazard – 5/10 – Fairly lively when he came on.
SUB – Juanmi Latasa – N/A.
