Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti refused to criticize Karim Benzema following he missed the opportunity to score from a penalty kick in the match that ended in a 1-1 draw with his guest Osasuna on Sunday evening in the seventh stage of the Spanish League.
Real Madrid missed two points for the first time in the season, following winning all its past six league matches.
Despite the return of Benzema following an absence of three weeks due to injury, Real Madrid did not appear at its usual level in Sunday’s match.
Real took the lead with a goal scored by Vinicius Junior in the 42nd minute, but Osasuna equalized through Enrique Garcia Kiki in the 50th minute.
Ancelotti refused to blame Benzema for the result of the tie, and confirmed that Real’s performance was not bad, and said in statements to the “Dazn” platform: Karim usually scores, the match was not great, but following the goal we received, the team played as required.
He stated: Karim has no problem starting to play throughout the 90 minutes. He is supposed to get back to his best level by playing. This is a spherical accident, and it can happen sometimes. We were solid in defence, had a good balance, and blocked the counter-attack a lot.
Karim Benzema had the opportunity to decide the match for Real Madrid and win the seventh in a row, when the team received a penalty kick with David Garcia being sent off from Osasuna, and Benzema took the penalty in the 78th minute, but he hit the crossbar.
Benzema missed three penalties this year in the face of Osasuna, who had missed the scoring from two penalties in the two teams’ match on April 20 in the thirty-third stage of last season’s league.
Real Madrid raised its score to 19 points in second place, with a goal difference only behind its arch-rivals Barcelona, who beat Real Mallorca 1 – zero Saturday in the same stage.