Real Madrid drop points against Osasuna in difficult weather

Pamplona: Real Madrid dropped points against Osasuna with a 0-0 draw battling very harsh weather. La Liga table toppers Atletico Madrid had their game called off as the snow from Storm Filomena battered the capital, the same also delayed Madrid’s flight for the clash at El Sadar.

Whether it was the disruption to the travel or the freezing conditions, Madrid was put in a turgid display and failed to muster a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes. Although, after the break, there was little improvement and despite two disallowed goals Madrid could only move to within a point of Atletico, who now have three games in hand.

The falling snow made it way more difficult during the dire opening period in which Madrid kept 72.3 per cent of the ball, yet no result was obtained from the same. Thibaut Courtois parried Oier’s thumping header from Ruben Garcia’s corner, and this was the only thing happening.

It took until the 49th minute for the Los Blancos to test home ‘keeper Sergio Herrera, who batted away Marco Asensio’s bending effort with much ease. Karim Benzema bundled a shot soon after Herrera brilliantly kept out his initial point-blank header, but the offside flag was raised swiftly, to curtail the celebrations.

Another goal was ruled out for offside when Mariano Diaz squirmed home from Benzema’s takedown but both men were offside when the initial pass was played. Osasuna were more than happy to sit back and defend deep to afford their visitors as little space as possible.

With this draw, Zinedine Zidane’s men failed to take advantage of leaders Atletico’s game against Athletic Bilbao being postponed due to the snowstorm. “We created very few chances, a team of our quality needs to create more, even when the pitch is difficult to play on like it was today,” Toni Kross said after the match.