Embattled Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster was happy to close to within two points of leaders Barcelona with a 1-0 home win over Recreativo Huelva on Saturday, but admitted the growing injury list at the Santiago Bernabeu was a major concern.
A deflected shot from Wesley Sneijder on 39 minutes ensured Schuster’s 50th league match in charge of Real was a win to ease the pressure, but it was not all good news, with Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain spraining his ankle.
“The result was important, although not flattering enough for the chances we had,” Schuster said. “The bad news for us is Higuain has sprained his ankle. I hope he will be back for us soon as we can’t continue like this [with so many injuries]. It is harming us a lot and we can’t compete on all fronts. It is difficult to find an explanation because almost all of the injuries are coming from matches. We can’t be in this situation in November.”
PHOTO: AFP
Real move into second above Villarreal and now trail Barcelona by two points, although Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand against Getafe.
Villarreal fell to their first league defeat since April, with Valladolid surprise 3-0 winners at El Madrigal.
Jonathan Sesma scored a brace (24 minutes and 43 minutes) and Luis Prieto added a third in a sensational first half as Valladolid, who beat Real Madrid 1-0 last weekend, took another big scalp.
In fact Valladolid are becoming a bogey team for Villarreal, having crushed them 5-1 on their own ground in a pre-season friendly. Villarreal slip to third, a point behind Real, and their first defeat of the campaign is a setback ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League home match against Manchester United.
“It was a dark day for us,” Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini said. “There may have been a lot of reasons for what happened and maybe the international matches was one. However, we should have been focused and we weren’t. They ended up winning quite easily. The important thing now is to improve our performance and focus on Champions League qualification.”
Real are also in European action and travel to BATE Borisov for tomorrow’s Champions League match that they need to win after losing home and away to Juventus.
Real sit second in group H, four points behind Juventus, but Russia’s Zenit St Petersburg are breathing down their necks just two points behind.
In Saturday’s showpiece match, title contenders Sevilla and Valencia shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Sevilla’s Brazilian Luis Fabiano had scored a hat-trick for his country in their 6-2 friendly win over Portugal and Valencia’s David Villa had scored in Spain’s 3-0 win over Chile, but despite the striking talent on show there were no goals in Seville.
Valencia drop one place to fourth while Sevilla stay fifth, with both sides four points behind pacesetters Barcelona.
Juan Mata went close for Valencia early on, while Frederic Kanoute almost broke the deadlock for Sevilla with a spectacular acrobatic effort which was parried by Renan Brito.
The result, combined with the Villarreal loss, was perfect for Real, now two points ahead of Sevilla and Valencia.
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