In-form Ronaldo buries Eibar

- Bright start for Eibar -

The home side started very brightly, putting pressure on the Real defence, and not letting them settle. They played an energetic pressing game, and had a handful of good chances in the first 15 minutes, but were unable to capitalise on the dominance.

- Real punish the high press -

Eibar’s high press and high line came at a price, however, and Luka Modric and Toni Kroos were able to bypass the defence with some nice lofted balls. Gareth Bale latched onto a couple, but was unable to finish.

Then, in the 33rd minute, Modric found Cristiano Ronaldo with a similar ball, and the forward found himself one on one with Marko Dmitrovic. Unsurprisingly, the Portuguese international didn’t miss, firing past the keeper at the near post. Real then grew into the game, and had more of the ball for the remainder of the half.

- Quick equaliser -

The second half began much like the first, with Eibar pushing hard for an equaliser. This time, however, they were able to turn their pressure into a goal. The equaliser came in the 49th minute, from a corner. Ivan Ramis did very well to lose Sergio Ramos, and Pedro Leon put it on a plate for him to head in.

- Ronaldo on fire - 

Once again, though, Real had too much quality on the break for Eibar. Dmitrovic made a couple of excellent saves to deny the visitors, but the hosts couldn’t hold out for the duration.

Ronaldo scored his second of the game in the 83rd minute, after Dani Carvajal found him with a cross between the two centre-backs in the Eibar box. He fired it in with a bullet header to make it 1-2, and the home side were unable to find a reply. Ronaldo is a man on fire at the moment, and his two goals today were his 16th and 17th in the last 10 games. Once again, he came up trumps for his side when they needed him, and he was the difference between the two sides on Saturday.

 

10 March 2018