Immediate Reaction: UDCA Tenerife 1 - 2 Real Madrid: Liga F

Difficult win on Campo de fútbol de Adeje against UDCA Tenerife. Real Madrid won 1-2, below are my views on the match.

Grid View

• Real Madrid XI
• UDCA Tenerife XI
• Bench

With the absence of Caroline Weir, Zornoza was back to the starting XI playing alongside Teresa and Toletti. Athenea started on bench this time with Hayley Raso taking her place. The Australian had debuted in the first league match and already in her second one she was accompanying Linda and Bruun in the starting line-up. The rest of the line-up stayed the same as against Valencia, just in a 4-3-3 formation instead of 4-2-3-1 in which the team has gotten used to playing with Weir.

These games played on artificial grass in the middle of the day always turn out to be chaotic. This game was no exception.

Neither team could manage to do a lot. Tenerife was playing in a low block formation, with 5-4-1 off the ball, that left Real Madrid without many options. The left hand-side didn’t have much chemistry - Olga and Linda would get lost between each other a lot. On the other hand, Raso and Oihane together with Toletti were carrying Madrid’s attack. they were trying to get some low crosses into the area but since Tenerife’s defense was positioned so far back, most of those attempts would end up being blocked. The best chance, aside from the goal, was in 33’ when Oihane sent low cross to Bruun in the middle right in front of the goal, but Dane’s attempt went just wide.

34’ GOAL by Signe Bruun (0-1)! A minute after that unlucky chance, Zornoza took a corner kick, sending the ball into the area where the ball bounced off the ground and Bruun had to stretch out her leg to push the ball into the net.

There were four minutes of intermission after the goal because the game got more physical after Las Blancas took the lead. Towards the end of the first half, Kathellen lost the ball by holding onto it for too long, where Monday tried to get to the ball but luckily Rocío had good pace to push it slightly back to Misa and clear the chance.

Tenerife made 3 changes at halftime while there were no changes in real Madrid. The first five minutes of the second half went in Tenerife’s favor. With a couple of corner kicks and keeping the play on Madrid’s side, their triple change at halftime served them well.

In 51’ Bruun got a hold of the ball when she went far up and tried to chip the ball into the net seeing Reis left her position, but the goalkeeper redeemed herself by making a brilliant save to deny Dane’s chip from going in.

Both teams were looking much more energetic in the second half - much more daring in attack. Tenerife pushed much harder than Real Madrid. Las Blancas would get the chance to go up only by executing counter attacks. In 60’ Raso went 1 on 1 vs Reis and when it was looking like she’d chip the ball over, Reis came sliding in and cleared the chance.

That was Raso’s last contribution to the game as she was replaced by Athenea the next minute, and Bruun got off for Feller.

In 69’ the crossbar saved Real Madrid’s lead after Okoronkwo’s cross from the left side that ended up serving more as a shot than cross.

Two minutes later, Maite replaced Zornoza. The formation stayed the same. A few minutes into this change, Linda got the ball in the center of the area and was looking for the answer, having to choose between passing to her left or trying to chip it over the defense. Ultimately, she decided to pass it on her side to Toletti. From there, she passed it over to Feller in front of the goal where Reis managed to save. Toletti was caught offside in that play. Linda then tried to put the ball in from the left post where Reis managed to brush off the ball and save it from going in at the far post. Then Tenerife took their turn to attack. Once Misa had to intervene by boxing out a high cross and one corner kick that was caught in a too big of an arch hitting the outer part of the crossbar.

88’ GOAL by Maite Oroz (0-2)! A little bit of understanding between Linda and Athenea at the entrance of the penalty area resulted in Maite managing to get the ball and shoot it in the way that she knows the best.

A minute later, there’s a change: Freja and Svava replaced Toletti and Linda. Svava was seen playing on the left wing for the first time when sharing the left side with Olga, every other time it was the other way around.

Two minutes after the sub, in 90+1’, Tenerife scored with a rocket from Babajide who took her chance while Real Madrid’s defense decided to go more up towards her instead of holding their positions. Babajide had a clear sight of where to shoot and shoot it in she did!

The closing minutes of the match didn’t lack any drama as Tenerife tried to draw the game a few times and were successful in stopping Madrid’s chances. There always has to be some late drama after the decision of making changes to the lineup to keep the result and this was no exception. Important 3 points that took Las Blancas to the top of the table, at least for the time being.