Bale opened the scoring in Real’s 2-0 win at Eibar on Sunday, his first goal for the club since August, while it was also the first time the forward had netted on the road since January.
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Real Madrid will be looking to keep pace with Barcelona at the top of La Liga, following their 4-0 humbling loss by the Catalans last week, against the in-form Eibar on November 29 at Municipal de Ipurua in Eibar, Spain.
Real would finally grab a second to put the contest to bed late into the match – with a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty seeing them guarantee that all three points would be returning to the Bernabeu.
Real Madrid returned to winning ways against Eibar this weekend, and picked up an overdue clean sheet for their troubles too.
“We didn’t expect to have the game we had against Barcelona, but we’re with the Coach the President”, the defender said after the game. “The key to maintaining that strength in the future is that the team show that same level of sacrifice, hard work, intensity and effort”. Nacho and Dani Carvajal came in for the injured Sergio Ramos and Marcelo, while Mateo Kovacic replaced Karim Benzema.
The Madrid side move up to 13th in the table thanks to the win, four points above the bottom three, while Villarreal slip down to sixth place and are without a win in their last three games. “Our first goal was rehearsed all week”.
Isco won’t be available either for Eibar after he received a two-game suspension for kicking Neymar in the “clasico”.
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Despite this, Balague stopped short at calling time on Ronaldo’s career, a career which, following his goal at Eibar, sees him stand third on the all-time goalscoring list across the world’s top-five leagues. “No Margin For Error” warned the headline and Benitez will be acutely aware of the pressure now riding on every game, particularly with that team up the road in Catalonia playing like the footballing equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters. Los Blancos nevertheless need to better the form of rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to stand a chance of major silverware, but a new-found organised defensive structure is a strong foundation to build on.
