Madrid (AFP)

With his back to the wall and with a third of the team injured, Zinédine Zidane is stomping again: Real Madrid conceded a 1-1 draw at Villarreal on Saturday for the 10th day of La Liga, two weeks after his terrible failure in Valencia (4- 1).

Four days before an essential meeting in the Champions League against Inter Milan, Real stalled again: after the early goal from the head of Mariano Diaz on his first ball (2nd), the Madrilenians have long controlled the meeting ... before the penalty conceded by Thibaut Courtois on Samuel Chukwueze (75th) and transformed by Gerard Moreno.

Faced with the second in La Liga, which is gaining momentum under the orders of the former Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery, we cannot speak of a big underperformance for the "White House" ...

But this draw is a task, fifteen days after the rout in Valencia and before the Milan test, while many executives are in the infirmary, like Benzema, Casemiro (Covid-19), and captain Sergio Ramos (affected to the femoral biceps of the right leg with Spain on Tuesday and absent until early December).

These absences forced Zidane to set up an unprecedented tactical organization: Mariano replaced Karim Benzema (hamstring injury in the left leg) and Luka Jovic (Covid-19) at the forefront of the merengue attack, with behind him Lucas Vazquez, Eden Hazard (recovered from Covid-19) and Martin Odegaard (recovered from a tear in the right calf).

- Emery wakes Villarreal -

More titular for a year, six months and sixteen days, "put in the closet" for months by Zidane, Mariano once again seized his chance when the French technician offered it to him, to put on the cloak for more than an hour. heroes for the people of Madrid ...

As he had done on March 1, to seal the outcome of the clasico return of Liga against Barça (2-0) in added time (90th + 2), during the last match played by the Merengues at the Santiago stadium. Bernabeu until today.

The defensive hinge Nacho Fernandez (recovered from his tear in the right thigh) - Raphaël Varane (recovered from his painful shoulder) convinced for an hour, before giving in under the waves of assault from Gerard Moreno and others.

Without Ramos and in difficulty since the start of the season, Varane wanted to reassure himself as Madrid's defense boss, but only held his rank in the first period, until the stirring Chukwueze (21 years old) came into play. .

Thanks to this draw snatched at the end of the match, the former Arsenal technician continues his excellent work at the helm of the "Yellow Submarine", provisionally second in La Liga with only one defeat, the 4-0 wiped at Camp Nou against Barcelona September 27, two months ago.

A precious point, before moving to the Basque leader, Real Sociedad, next weekend.

Real, for their part, are approaching without certainty the essential deadline of Wednesday (20:00 GMT) against Inter Milan in the Champions League, which could precipitate the elimination of one of these two illustrious European clubs.

© 2020 AFP