KARIM BENZEMA MISSED two penalties in seven minutes but Real Madrid still had enough to defeat Osasuna 3-1 as they continued their march towards the La Liga title.
Benzema was looking for his 45th goal of the season but was twice denied by Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera, who both times dived to his right and both times made the save with Madrid leading 2-1 at El Sadar.
But Osasuna were unable to find an equaliser in the second half and Madrid added a third in injury-time, Vinicius Junior teeing up Lucas Vazquez for an easy finish.
David Alaba’s opener had earlier been cancelled out by Osasuna’s Ante Budimir, before Marco Asensio restored Madrid’s advantage on the stroke of half-time.
Madrid move 17 points clear at the top of La Liga, ahead of Atletico Madrid, who missed the chance to pull away in the race for the top four after being held to a goalless draw by Granada.
The stalemate means Atletico move up to second in the table but could be overtaken by both Barcelona and Sevilla on Thursday. Barca play at Real Sociedad after Sevilla travel to Levante.
Real Betis, who were beaten by Elche on Tuesday, are four points behind Atletico in fifth.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti started Toni Kroos and Vinicius on the bench while Luka Modric was left out of the squad completely, with the first leg of Madrid’s Champions League semi-final against Manchester City less than a week away.
Alaba put Real Madrid in front in the 13th minute, bundling in the rebound after Benzema had tapped the ball across, but the advantage was brief as Budimir knocked in Chimy Avila’s pass to the back post a minute later.
Madrid restored their lead at the end of the half as Asensio played inside from the right wing and continued his run into the penalty box. Eduardo Camavinga chipped to the left side of the box and while Dani Ceballos’ effort was saved, Asensio’s run was rewarded with a simple finish.
Benzema’s pair of penalties came in the 52nd and 59th minutes, both won by Rodrygo, whose sharp turn tempted Avila into a handball on the ground before Nacho Vidal stumbled into the back of the Brazilian.
At the first attempt, Benzema struck left but Herrera dived to make the save. The second time, Herrera pointed to Benzema’s right but Benzema opted for the same side, Herrera guessing correctly again to palm away to safety.
Vinicius came off the bench and should have added a third in injury-time but side-footed wide, before tearing away again and this time laying across for Vazquez to find the corner.
- Atletico frustrated -
Atletico Madrid had earlier been left frustrated by a goalless draw with Granada.
After six consecutive victories between February and April, Atletico have now managed just one win from their last five in all competitions, bringing back some of the concerns that hung over the team earlier in the season.
Without Joao Felix, who will miss the rest of the season through injury, La Liga’s reigning champions lacked the thrust needed to break down a determined Granada side, who were playing their first match under new coach Aitor Karanka. Granada sit 18th, a point behind Cadiz, who have a game in hand.
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Very easy to blame a few mistakes when in truth the individuals and the system were terrible. Ireland don’t have an offload/continuity game yet that’s what we tried from the first ball against the best team in the world. We didn’t help ourselves with poor kicking and cheap turnovers but to not mention the coaches and tactics in this analysis is very short-sighted
@Mark Dooley: players largely to blame for basic errors. Coaching staff have to take blame for selection of non form & rusty players and for lack of variety to our game since our the win v all blacks. It was a chance for them to throw caution to the wind and start the with at the least Beirne, ruddock & larmour.
Good analysis Murray
@Mark Dooley: this excellent analysis clear shows that the team was well set up tactically as we were creating space but basic errors by players meant we failed to take advantage of those opportunities. In fact we turned the ball over and handed advantage to NZ. Once again an Irish team has not turned up for a World Cup. That for me is a mental issue that we need to face up to and overcome. Blaming coaches, injuries etc only avoiding the truth and the real issue. Interesting to hear Schmidt say they started focusing on this QTR final end last year, just before their form went to shit.
@Mark Dooley: Excellent analysis by Murray. I disagree with you blaming the coaches & tactics. Uncharacteristic errors, missed kicks & missed tackles by players cost us dearly plus NZ were ruthlessly clinical imho.
@David Supple: coaches responsible for selecting out of form players based on what they have done in the past. Kearney in particular was a pick to try and not lose a game rather than win one as he offers nothing in attack. All you gave to do is look at the abs selection policy for 15 and it is almost always a try scoring machine and the rawness of the two wings to see what proactive selection looks like.
It will be interesting to see what a defensive coach in Farrell. thinks or does with Stockdale. His instinct is to go for the interception and he bites quite a bite. When it works it’s fantastic but when it doesn’t it’s at least 3 points.
I’m not singling our Stockdale but more how our new coach sees it.
Why in this article and others are teams lauded for being able to catch and pass the ball, these players are playing rugby 5 days a week why do we think catch pass is so special, is it because Ireland are so bad at it? Its been killing Munster for 10 years when will we wake up to the basic skills required????
The muppets in the crowd should have shut up and respected the haka. Those clowns over there are just bandwagon jumpers.
@munsterman: Totally disagree, it should be shown as much respect that it deserves and that is f£¥k all!
@munsterman: stupid comment. Had nothing to do with anything