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Immediate Reaction: Alhama 1 - 5 Real Madrid; Liga F

Comfortable win in a not so comfortable game.

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Win in Murcía against Alhama El Pozo. Real Madrid came victorious with the result of 1-5 thanks to the goals of Weir, Maite, Athenea, Esther and an own goal.

Due to a high number of absences, the Real Madrid manager was forced to do a lot of changes. The main one being in defense as Kathellen, who broke her arm, and Olga, suspended due to card accumulation, are unavailable. Rocío is also a big name missing so with her and Kathellen out, Toril was only left with two available center backs - Ivana and Claudia Florentino. What wasn’t obvious, Lucía took Kenti’s place for this match, playing for the first time since the beginning of January. Also, with the absence of Feller, Toril put 4 midfielders where Maite acted as a winger.

Real Madrid got an early lead in the third minute. Zornoza’s pass from the left flank arrived perfectly at Weir’s feet who ran a bit with the ball and chipped the ball over Laura to make it 0-1.

The following 15 minutes or so weren’t easy at all for the white club. There were a lot of troubles in the midfield but even more in defense, what was expected. Even though all chances were handled, it all looked very messy in the backline. Florentino would sometimes take Ivana’s place and leave a hole in her position when Lucía was expected to fill in there.

In 12’ Weir had a similar chance to the one where she scored from but this time she didn’t get to shoot it as it was blocked and sent to the corner kick. This was Madrid’s only corner in the first half.

Las Blancas doubled their lead in 21’ after a pass from Esther arrived to Maite who then entered the box, dribbled her way to the center of the box, shot and scored for 0-2.

In the next 15-minute chunk, the dominance wasn’t on either side. Alhama didn’t stop trying. And it paid off in 41’.

Alhama’s cross in 41’ ended in Misa’s hands but the ball slipped from her hands and Kuki got the rebound and put it in for 1-2.

However, one minute later, Alhama’s goalkeeper made a mistake too. She went out to make a sliding tackle as Esther was approaching the box, but she didn’t see Athenea on the other side whom she passed the ball and Athenea shot it in at basically an open goal. First half ended 1-3.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Ivana made a mistake in front of her box and gave away a chance to Alhama which they didn’t manage to capitalize on. The first 6 minutes or so were all played on Madrid’s half of the pitch. The dominance they established after the third goal was now gone. Ten minutes in, Alhama got a corner which arrived on Judith’s head whose attempt was cleared from the goal line by Zornoza.

Madrid’s first chance of the second half ended in a goal. Esther was positioned in the box when Weir passed, she took a shot, the goalkeeper saved and the rebound finally got in to make it 1-4.

Two minutes after the goal, Athenea got a chance. She dribbled past two players, took a bit long to decide where to shoot and when she finally did, in went just above the crossbar.

In 75’ there was a double change. Nahikari and Linda Caicedo in for Esther and Maite. First 15 minutes for Linda. Two minutes in, Linda gets her first chance from Nahikari’s through pass, her shot ended up just wide on the far post as Weir didn’t manage to get it either.

Linda and Nahikari had good chemistry until the next substitution in 84’ when Møller and Camacho got in for Athenea and Weir. However, this combination of players had quite a few chances. Møller missed a chance shooting with her weak foot from Carla’s cross. Nahikari had two of her shots saved by Laura. Carla had a few good combinations with Linda.

Two minutes after the last substitution, Møller’s cross found Alhama’s #14, Nerea who struggled at the goal and pushed the ball in her own net.

The game ended 1-5. Below are all goals.

Next up: Copa de la Reina quarter finals against Villarreal. This was Madrid’s 13th consecutive win in the league.

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