Real Madrid might be the favorites in the UEFA Champions League, but a 1-1 draw against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday will hardly have struck fear into Bayern Munich.
Zinedine Zidane’s side started complacently at the Santiago Bernabeu and ended frantically, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s 87th-minute equalizer canceling out a delightful early chip from Athletic’s Inaki Williams in between.
Barcelona’s commanding lead at the top of La Liga, which now stands at 12 points over Atletico Madrid and 15 on Real, means these matches carry reduced significance and inevitably lack a certain edge.
However, Zidane might at least be concerned by a loss of momentum, particularly given this side is likely to be very close to the one that starts the semi-final first leg at the Allianz Arena next week.
Real have managed to hit a different gear in the Champions League knockout stages, but this draw means they have now won only once in their past four matches, having strung together 11 victories in their previous 12.
“The result wasn’t what we wanted today, and mentally also, we were a little off,” Zidane said. “What we have to do is rest, we have five days before the game on Wednesday [next week], we will prepare well and then we will give everything. We have a semi-final and we will fight to the death to defend our title.”
Ronaldo’s late flick was his 22nd goal in 12 games, and with the Portuguese in this sort of form almost any performance can be salvaged.
However, Real’s night was better summed up by one moment in the second half when Sergio Ramos repeatedly failed to clear and then turned to face the crowd’s jeers with his arms outstretched.
The jeers grew louder.
If the Real team that faced Malaga on Sunday was aimed at resting players ahead of Bayern, this looked more like a dress rehearsal.
Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Raphael Varane and Marcelo all returned, but there was no place for Gareth Bale, who had also been left out against Malaga.
His preserved energy was deemed only valuable enough for 30 minutes off the bench.
Despite the strong picks, Real were sloppy from the outset, full of heavy touches and misplaced passes, while Athletic delivered an early warning for what was to come when Mikel San Jose skipped in behind, but was denied by Keylor Navas.
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