28 February,2018 02:01 PM IST | Barcelona | AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo was rested and the supporting cast failed to show up as Real Madrid endured a shock 1-0 defeat away to Espanyol on Tuesday. Gerard Moreno struck in the 94th minute at the RCDE Stadium as Real's rotated line-up felt the full punishment for a slack and disjointed display. Gareth Bale, Marco Asensio and Isco all struggled, the trio squandering the chance to impress ahead of next week's Champions League second leg with Paris Saint-Germain.
Bale was certainly not the only Real player out of sorts but the 28-year-old, now back to full fitness, was perhaps under most pressure to stake his claim. After missing with a number of efforts at goal, and receiving a yellow card in the first half, he was finally replaced with nine minutes remaining. Zidane, however, would not be drawn on the performance either of Bale, or the rest of his stand-ins, after the match. "If you lose here today it is because things did not work for many reasons, not just because of a player or a play," he told beIN Sports.
Instead it was Gerard who stole the show as Espanyol scored a deserved win that sees them climb to 13th in La Liga. Real, meanwhile, will fall 17 points behind leaders Barcelona if the Catalans overcome Las Palmas on Thursday. "If the result is not what we want then it is a step back," Zidane said. "I do not have to reproach my players, we played the game but we did not get what we expected." With PSG left praying for a miracle after Neymar was stretchered off wth a foot injury on Sunday, Zidane wrapped his own star player up in cotton wool, as Ronaldo was not even included on the bench. Zidane would not be drawn on Neymar's chances of recovery. "We have to wait, all we know is he is injured," the Frenchman said.
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