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A goal invented by Courtois but scored by Benzema. The desperate play had to be made by Real Madrid at the last moment of the duel in Mestalla that escaped him. The draw allows him to keep the race side by side with Barça for the League's lead before Wednesday's battle. Only Valencia made a mistake in the whole game, and it cost part of the winnings that were fought in 45 minutes in which they showed again that they are capable of becoming bigger the more difficult the challenge. [Narration and statistics: 1-1]

Zidane thought he wouldn't need Casemiro in Mestalla. His muscle was reserved for Camp Nou and for a good part of the match he was right. Real Madrid was not demanded before a doubting rival, unable to retain the ball and with a single argument in attack: Ferran.

With Valverde, Kross and Modric had more than enough to blind Parejo, and with him all of Valencia, and settle comfortably on the edge of the front, yes to try Jaume Domenech with shy shots. Rodrygo tried it at the beginning - then disappeared - and was followed by Valverde, Kroos and Benzema head to center of Nacho. All without conviction. The comfort with which they were deployed in Mestalla gave the feeling that Zidane had exceeded his precautions and that they only expected Valencia to break down.

Celades managed to reassemble an eleven despite the plague of casualties that, on this occasion, had turned forward. The young Ferran was entrusted with the task of leading the attack and in his first career endowed with Varane reminded him that the placid match could change into a mistake. The problem is that fear was not sustained. With a Parejo guarded, without the surprise that Ferran himself brings in the band and without Maxi Gómez to make profitable any attempt to avoid the town center, the efficiency in attack was almost nil.

While Valencia was obfuscated trapped in the Madrid midfield web, Real Madrid did it on the front. Faced with a defense with cracks, his attacks were too innocent to win the prize of leaving Mestalla's leader.

The locals woke up, watched by their owner from the box, with a high shot from Ferran to downtown Gayà before the break, but the chain was released after going through the locker room. The notice was given again by the brazen extreme of 19 years, whose explosion in the field has multiplied its price in the market. Ferran is today one of the most valuable youth in the League and ends contract in 2021.

Celades looked for a bit more intensity in attack seeing Madrid willing to keep the same tempo and even take two steps back. With Modric demanded and Valverde forced to clothe the centrals, assembling plays complicated the excess to Benzema's despair. He was seen by Zidane, who sought to hustle his players with the entry of Bale and Vinicius. To a fireproof equipment like Valencia, even if it is reduced, any concession is an excess that can be paid dearly.

And that concession was to give Parejo freedom. The captain is the catalyst of the game, of the long passes like the one that Wass hunted for, leaning on Rodrigo, to find Soler at the penalty spot. The goal of Valencia lay a Madrid pasota that began to suffer.

He could already make an effort to squeeze the carats he had on the grass because each loss was an occasion in the goal of the Courtois, who saw the second fence in a play that failed to finish Manu Vallejo.

The response of Real Madrid was corajuda. Benzema beat Jaume offside, but did not fail his second time and hunted the dead ball from a corner that Courtois had headed header wide and Garay did not clear. Tie to errors.

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  • Zinedine Zidane

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