Hazard Goal Rescues A Draw For Real Madrid Against Sevilla
Real Madrid’s title plans suffered a setback on Sunday night with a controversial 2-2 draw against Sevilla at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.
With a chance to go atop the table with two matches remaining, Los Blancos instead had to scrap to come away with a point after a late stoppage-time goal from Eden Hazard.
After goals from Sevilla midfielder Fernando and Real Madrid forward Marco Asensio, perhaps the moment that will define this LaLiga season came late in the second half when a Real Madrid penalty was taken away and a Sevilla penalty was awarded after a decision by VAR. Ivan Rakitic scored the spot kick and had Sevilla looking at victory until a late Toni Kroos shot deflected off of Hazard and in.
The result leaves Real Madrid stuck in second place with 75 points, two points behind leaders Atletico Madrid with just two matchdays remaining.
The big news out of Zinedine Zidane’s starting XI was the exclusion of Hazard, who had drawn the ire of the Real Madrid faithful for laughing and joking around with former Chelsea teammates after Los Blancos’ midweek elimination from the Champions League. Instead, Fede Valverde started in more of an attacking role, alongside Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
Real Madrid thought they had taken a 1-0 lead early on through a perfectly struck Benzema header off an Alvaro Odriozola cross, but VAR stepped in and ruled that the right-back was a step offside and the goal was taken off the board.
Sevilla happily took the let-off and then promptly took a 0-1 lead through Fernando, who received a lightly weighted header from former Barcelona man Rakitic, made a slight move and fired a left-footed into net.
Despite the goal, Sevilla looked wobbly in defence as Real continued to pepper Bono in the Sevilla goal with shots, including a hard hit from Benzema that had to be tipped over the crossbar.
Real Madrid ratcheted up the pressure to start the second half, pinning Sevilla deep in their own half and making it nearly impossible for the Andalusians to play out of the back. It led to a few good looks at goal, including Kroos setting up Vinicius, but the Brazilian couldn’t get a clean shot off.
Zidane went to his bench midway through the half, with Marco Asensio and Miguel Gutierrez on for Luka Modric and Marcelo, and Asensio immediately made a difference with a sweetly struck a first-time shot off a perfectly executed pass from Kroos to level things at 1-1.
The pivotal moment of the match came with almost a quarter-hour left when Sevilla howled for a handball on Eder Militao in the Real Madrid area, which was then followed by a Real counter-attack that ended with Bono hauling down Benzema in the Sevilla area for an apparent penalty.
VAR was needed to settle matters and Sevilla were the ones celebrating when referee Juan Martinez Munuera pointed to the spot in front of Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Rakitic stepped up and cool as ice slotted home the penalty for a 1-2 Sevilla lead.
The maligned Hazard was brought on by Zidane for Vinicius in hopes of pulling a goal back quickly, and in the waning moments a Kroos shot took a huge deflection off of the Belgian and rolled in past Bono to make it 2-2.
There were still two minutes left on the clock and Real Madrid had one final chance when Casemiro stroked a right-footer that sailed just wide of the post, leaving Real Madrid to wonder if that was their last chance at the league crown.
Match Sheet:
2.- Real Madrid: Courtois; Odriozola, Militao, Nacho, Marcelo (Miguel Gutierrez, min. 66); Casemiro, Kroos, Modric (Asensio, min. 66); Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius (Hazard, min. 79).
2.- Sevilla: Bono; Navas, Kounde, Diego Carlos, Acuna; Fernando, Rakitic (Oliver Torres, min. 88), Jordan (Gudelj, min. 84); Suso (Oscar, min. 83), Papu Gomez (En-Nesyri, min. 56), Ocampos (De Jong, min. 88).
Goals: 0-1, min. 22: Fernando; 1-1, min. 67: Asensio; 1-2, min. 78: Rakitic (p); 2-2, min. 94: Hazard.
Referee: Martinez Munuera (Valencian).
Yellow cards: Casemiro (Min. 21) for Real Madrid, Suso (Min. 56) for Sevilla, Gudelj (Min. 85) for Sevilla.
Red cards: None.
Stadium: Alfredo Di Stefano.
Attendance: 0.
