(Football news) Real Madrid defeated Cadiz 2-1 in their final home game of the year. Los Blancos were really made to work hard for the victory as it went right down to the wire. Carlo Ancelotti was with his regular side but without Dani Carvajal who was replaced by Lucas Vazquez. Rodrygo continued as a number 9 while Marco Asensio also dropped to the bench. The game started pretty even as both sides had a couple of good opportunities. Vinicius Jr was once again targeted by the opposition as he was fouled way too many times. Even Rodrygo was elbowed off the ball and neither the referee nor the VAR did anything about it. 

Real Madrid finally broke the deadlock in the 49th minute as Eder Militao headed home Toni Kroos' pinpoint cross. In the 2nd half Real Madrid had much more control of the game and they doubled their lead in the 70th minute. Toni Kroos scored an incredible volley from outside the box in sublime fashion to make it 2-0 to the Merengues. Real Madrid had a golden opportunity to score a third but Luka Modric somehow missed an open net. It was heading towards a comfortable finish for Los Blancos but then Lucas Perez pulled one back for Cadiz in the 81st minute and the last minutes of the game were pretty tense. Cadiz had a couple of good opportunities to get the equalizer but they couldn't take it. 

In the end Real Madrid walked away with 3 points which means that they are now just 2 points behind Barcelona going into the break. The officiating was the main talking point after the game as it is pretty clear that Vinicius Jr needs to be protected more by the referees. The Brazilian was fouled way too many times and the referee produced only 3 yellow cards for the away side. The off the ball incident between Rodrygo and Fali was another one which could've been a straight red card. Other than that it was a pretty ordinary performance by Real Madrid who got the job done as they needed to. A total of 13 Real Madrid players are going to Qatar for the World Cup and Carlo Ancelotti will be hoping that all of them return unscathed.

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