Madrid: Vinicius Jr came off the bench and scored a last-minute equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw at home to Real Sociedad on Tuesday (March 2), although the Spanish champions still lost momentum in the title race ahead of next week’s Madrid derby.
Zinedine Zidane’s Madrid side was still missing key players due to ti injuries and Real Madrid hit the bar twice in the first half but it was the visitors who took the lead on the 55 minutes with a header from forward Portu.
Toni Kroos came real close to levelling with a curling effort that missed the target but it was the Brazilian youngster Vinicius who eventually found an equaliser on 89th minute with a deflected effort from inside the area.
If Madrid had won this match, they had the chance to move within three points of Atletico ahead of the derby but the draw left them third on 53 points from 25 games, levelled with second-placed Barcelona and five points behind of Diego Simeone’s side, who also have a game in hand.
The visitors appealed that they should have had been awarded a penalty in the first half when Nacho Monreal was brought down by Casemiro, yet it was Madrid who looked more dangerous despite only managing just one shot on target before the break.
Mariano Díaz’s header glanced onto the crossbar by Sociedad’s Andoni Gorosabel while the loose ball fell onto to the path of Marco Asensio, whose shot was deflected wide for a corner, from there Raphael Varane’s header hit the top of the bar.
Casemiro’s shot went from a distance and just wide, while Luka Modric was the only player who actually tested visiting keeper Alex Remiro.
After the lead against Portu’s thumping header, Sociedad could have won the game for themselves as Alexander Isak narrowly failed to connect with a cross from Portu, while Robin Le Normand came very close with a header.
Madrid lacked composure during the entire second half but maintained their hunger to find an equaliser and finally got one with a somewhat scrappy goal with Lucas Vazquez serving a low cross which bobbled around the box and was knocked in by Vinicius aided by a deflection.
“I think we deserved a lot more, looking at the chances we had. But we didn’t score, above all in the first half, which would have changed the game. We dominated but that’s football,” Zidane said. “We’ve had games we’ve won but didn’t deserve to. We’re fine, five wins and a draw, we have to keep thinking there’s a lot left.
“I don’t know if it was the best (performance) of the last six] but it’s true we played a good game. We drop two points, I’m annoyed for the players after the effort they made. We can be happy with what we’re doing. We dominated the game, clearly.”
“We had a good first half, we started the second badly then they scored a great goal. We got one back but there was no time left to get a second,” said Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois.
