(Football news) Real Madrid defeated Athletic Club Bilbao 1-0 to go 7 points clear at the top of the La Liga table. The Los Blancos have now won 7 and drawn 1 since they lost back to back matches against Sheriff Tiraspol and Espanyol back in October. Carlo Ancelotti's men are flying through the season and going a little under the radar with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea grabbing all the headlines. Real Madrid are certainly showing that they too are strong contenders to win the UEFA Champions League.
The game was anything but comfortable for Real Madrid as Marcelino's team caused a lot of trouble. On another day Real Madrid could've comfortably lost the game but in the end, Karim Benzema's strike in the 40th minute was the difference. The goal came after some intricate build up play with Vinicius Jr, Luka Modric and Marco Asensio heavily involved. Real Madrid were clearly fatigued as Ancelotti made just one change to the team that defeated Sevilla on Sunday. Substitutes Fede Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga provided a lot of energy in the end to protect the lead. Valverde in particular ran a lot and made a few last ditch tackles to break down Bilbao attacks.
The man of the match was undoubtedly Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian shot stopper kept a clean sheet and made two very important saves. He also came out of his box a couple of times to bail his team out of a tricky situation. The 6'7" goalkeeper has arguably been the best goalkeeper in the world this season. Under Zinedine Zidane, Courtois kept a lot of clean sheets and even won the Ricardo Zamora trophy given to the goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in La Liga. That was more down to the compact structure of the team that Zidane employed combined with a few saves from Courtois. Under Ancelotti, Courtois is called upon more times to make crucial saves.
Karim Benzema scored yet again to take his goal tally to 12 in La Liga 2021/22. He is leading the race for the Pichichi award by a long way. Second on the list is Vinicius Jr. with 9 goals. Benzema is also leading the assist charts in La Liga with 7 assists. Luka Modric who set up Benzema's goal yesterday is third on the list with 4 assists.
