Real Madrid suffered an existential first-half scare on La Liga matchday 20 clash against Almeria, LCSoccerHub Reports.
Los Blancos needed a win to stay at arm’s length with surprised challengers Girona, who have maintained a consistent run to stay put on the title race.
The Los Blancos went into the game, having won their last 7 home matches in La Liga against Almeria. Overall, Almeria had lost all their last eight games against the Madrid-based club, hence it was another tough test for the relegation-threatened club, who were reeling at the bottom of the table with just 6 points.
Almeria pulled an absolute stunner at Santiago Bernabeu. It was a pure shocker as the bottom-placed led at the Bernabeu. The away side scored the fastest La Liga goal this season.
It was an absolute stinker with loose and lackluster defending by the hosts. Almeria star Robertone found Ramazani who came one-on-one with Kepa and perfectly beat the Chelsea loanee to find the back of the net.
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Real Madrid stepped up play after conceding but it was a tale of near-misses for the hosts and rugged defending by the visitors.
On the cusp of the first half, Real Madrid conceded again in another blow to their comeback hopes. Nacho’s blunder gifted the goal away for Ameria, who were in dreamland, scoring twice before the break against the La Liga giants. It was the most unlikely result for a bottom-placed team against a La Liga title hopeful. Santiago Bernabeu was silenced as Almeria edged close to what would have been an epic La Liga victory.
In the second half, Carlo Ancelotti made three key changes that overturned the game after the break. Garcia, Nacho, and Rodrygo were off for Mendy, Diaz, and Joselu.
The triple substitution turned the game around for the hosts. In the 57th minute, Real Madrid cut down their arrears with Jude Bellingham scoring a spot-kick to reduce the deficit but the hosts needed a huge let-off to stay in the game as Almeria restored the two-goal lead in the 63rd minute but the goal was ruled out for a foul in the build-up against Jude Bellingham.
Four minutes after Almeria’s third goal was ruled out, Los Blancos were back on level terms with a controversial goal from Vinicius Jr. Vinicius picked Aurelien Tchouameni’s cross before firing into the top corner to make it 2-2. The goal was previously ruled out as the Brazilian was wrongly adjudged to have played down the cross with his hand. However, after a VAR check, the goal was allowed to stand as it appeared he played home the cross with his shoulder.
With the scoreline at a 2-2 draw, Real Madrid were on the ascendancy going forward but left it late to snatch a win at the death. Almeria had hoped to salvage a draw but Carvajal headed home Jude Bellingham’s cross at the back post deep in stoppage time to complete the dramatic comeback.
It ended with the Los Blancos surviving Almeria scare to grab a 3-2 victory and go top of the La Liga table with 50 points.
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