Osasuna 1-1 Real Madrid: Match review | OneFootball

Real Madrid dropped points in La Liga for the third game on the bounce as Osasuna held them to a 1-1 draw at El Sadar. The Whites were hard done by some more controversial decisions by the referee but retain their position as table toppers after Atletico Madrid dropped points too later on Saturday night.

Los Blancos were dominant from the word go and found the back of the net 15 minutes into the game after Jude Bellingham won a loose ball high up the pitch, which Federico Valverde delivered to absolute perfection into the box. Kylian Mbappe would tap it home for his third goal in a matter of week, and 25th of the season in all competitions.

The visitors had chances to double their lead in the minutes thereafter, before an extremely controversial decision from the referee saw Bellingham sent off on the 39th minute. The Englishman reportedly said something to Martinez Munuera, which he did not comprehend correctly, thereby dismissing the midfielder with a direct red card, which is going to be appealed against.

Real Madrid still looked in decent control in spite of going a man down, but Osasuna had a spell of good possession and chances in the second half which they would finally take advantage of. Eduardo Camavinga’s challenge on Ante Budimir just before the hour mark was the subject of a penalty review by VAR, which eventually went against the Whites and allowed the home side’s forward to equalise.

Though Osasuna equalised with half an hour to go, they showed little interest in pushing for a winner with Carlo Ancelotti’s men still firmly in charge of the proceedings.

Vinicius Junior was particularly impressive as he tried to influence the match back into Real Madrid’s favour, but as it turned out, it was two more dropped points for them and some more refereeing controversy that has had a massive impact on La Liga’s title race.

To sum it all up, there were two penalty decisions, a couple of nasty fouls on Kylian Mbappe that went unbooked and a dangerous shove on Fran Garcia that again should have resulted in a yellow card at the very least, that went against Los Blancos.

Nevertheless, there is little time to ponder over the referee’s terrible performance from the Osasuna game as the Merengues turn their attention back to the Champions League, where they face Manchester City next at the Santiago Bernabeu in the second leg of their play-off round on Wednesday, February 19th.