Gareth Bale on Sunday ended a three-month goal drought in La Liga to give Real Madrid a nervy 1-0 win away to basement club Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, taking his side back into the top four at the expense of Deportivo Alaves.
The forward, who had not found the net in the league since Sept. 1, but had scored in the Champions League, gave Real an ideal start by volleying home a cross from Alvaro Odriozola in the eighth minute.
Huesca, bottom of the table with a meager seven points and without a win since the opening day of the season, did not lay down against the European champions, though, and it took a flying save from Thibaut Courtois to prevent Ezequiel Avila leveling soon afterward.
Photo: AFP
Real’s eighth win in nine games in all competitions under coach Santiago Solari saw them climb above Alaves into fourth in the standings on 26 points after 15 games, five behind leaders Barcelona.
It was a marked improvement from Real’s dire form earlier in the campaign, which saw the club dispense with coach Julen Lopetegui, but Real are still struggling to dominate games.
They have made significant advances in defense, though, and it was their sixth clean sheet under Solari.
Goalkeeper Courtois admitted his side had performed badly, particularly after halftime.
“In the first half we played well, we controlled the game and we did things the right way,” Courtois said. “In the second half it was complicated, we had the wind against us and it was difficult to play properly; we did almost nothing in the second half.”
Solari praised his side for digging in and seeing out the result.
“We knew how to defend our goal until the end,” he said. “Bale scored a great goal which earned us the three points, as did the team’s character. If we want to compete for La Liga we have to win these type of matches, too.”
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