Eibar embarrass Santiago Solari's woeful Real Madrid

Eibar 3-0 Real Madrid: Santiago Solari's side had just three shots on goal all game

Tom Kershaw
Saturday 24 November 2018 15:09 GMT
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Eibar sauntered to a thoroughly deserved victory
Eibar sauntered to a thoroughly deserved victory (Getty)

Santiago Solari suffered his first setback as Real Madrid manager as he saw his woeful side thrashed 3-0 away at 13th-placed Eibar.

Off-colour right from the kick-off, when Raphael Varane was immediately charged down on the edge of his own box, Madrid’s players lacked desire and determination throughout as the home side sauntered to a famous victory.

After a tepid opening twenty-minutes, Eibar took the lead on the breakaway as standout striker Kike found space in the six-yard-box. Thibaut Courtois managing to parry his tap-in away but only into the path of Gonzalo Escalante who graciously bundled the ball into the net. The referee checked with VAR to determine if there had been a foul on the former Chelsea keeper, but the goal rightly stood and Real Madrid rarely threatened a comeback from there on.

Madrid’s players lacked determination and desire from the off (Getty)

Solari’s side were sloppy in possession whenever presented with a chance to break with Gareth Bale’s poor touch in particular wasting a number of opportunities to get beyond Eibar’s back line.

And after Marid came out for the second half in similarly lacklustre fashion, it was no surprise that Eibar added second and third goals in quick succession, both enabled via Madrid’s poor defending.

First Cucurella nicked the ball off Andre Odriozola on the edge of the box before teeing up Sergi Enrich whose angled shot beat Courtois and bounced into the bottom corner. And five minutes later, another sequence of defensive errors by Madrid produced the final nail. Varane turned all too easily by the corner flag, a cross coming in undefended which Carvajal failed to clear before the ball fell to Kike for the easiest of tap-ins.

It characterised a shambolic performance from Solari’s team, who looked bereft of idea and inspiration throughout, having just three shots on target all game despite spending the vast majority of time chasing it. An embarrassing and thoroughly deserved drubbing which will have seen the onlooking president, Florentino Perez, regretting his recent decision to instate the Argentinian on a permanent basis.

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