Real Madrid went ahead with their game against Cádiz with another very discreet performance and went to the break two points behind Barcelona. The best thing that can happen to this team now is for the World Cup to come and stop thinking about it. The whites have been out of the loop for three weeks, very blurred. They have lost the spark and intensity with which they started the season and their game has become vulgar to the point of being now almost unrecognizable.
Ancelotti took out his gala eleven except for the already somewhat chronic absence of Benzema who at this point in the season has only played 53% of the possible minutes without knowing very well what he has. Mundialitis, is what is commented on social networks and Madrid forums.
The only surprise in the white eleven was the absence of Asensio, the best of the whites in the collective shipwreck of Vallecas. The Spaniard went to the bench so that Tchouaméni had a place in midfield, which sent Valverde to the extreme right. The Frenchman was grey.
Cádiz appeared at the Bernabeu in relegation places and justified its position. He did not propose anything except a course of bad manners and cunning consented by the arbitration of Soto Grado, among them an attack by Fali on Rodrygo in the face of the Rioja referee that came to nothing.
And yet even a team as starved of football as Cádiz put in evidence the defense of Madrid, which continues to concede too much. Sergio González's men were able to get ahead on the scoreboard in the eleventh minute with a shot by Espino that went off Courtois's crossbar.
Madrid, who already played relaxed against Rayo, came out the same way in front of their fans at the Bernabeu. The first part was the most boring thing this season has seen. The Whites practically did not create any scoring chances, unable to overcome the rival's iron records.
When the game went into the break goalless, Cádiz conceded the first in the 41st in their only defensive error of the first half, a corner that led to a new cross from Kroos and a header from Militão free of a mark in the center of the area. The VAR validated the position of the Brazilian's third goal, which he had previously scored in Getafe and on Monday in Vallecas.
The second half began much more fun, with a double chance, the first by Sobrino, who Courtois took off and almost immediately after by Valverde, whose shot deflected the side Iza when the ball was already slipping. It was a mirage because soon everything returned to the way it had been in the first half. Madrid dominated but without doing any damage because they couldn't find a way to overcome the dense visiting defense of a Cádiz team that only aspired to make it to the last ten minutes.
The uncertainty seemed to end in the 70th minute, when, after a rebound, Kroos hooked a shot close to the post that made it 2-0. Then, after a play by Vinícius Modric, he missed the easiest goal of his life. It was a mistake that could have cost Madrid dearly because after a bad blocking by Courtois Lucas Perez he scored 2-1 in minute 81. Madrid finished with defensive changes, safeguarding the victory. Espino had a header to tie the game and his shot went high by a bit. Ancelotti and all of Real Madrid breathed.
