Real Madrid failed to capitalise on the chance to move above Barcelona in the La Liga table after failing to win against Valencia on Sunday. The excellent display of football from the both the Spanish clubs saw Valencia scoring a last gasp equalizer to keep the scoreline at 2-2.
Former Manchester United and England right back Garry Neville is still looking for his first managerial win since he took over Valencia, but the performance from his players against the mighty Madrid might be just what he was looking for.
Barcelona, who recently drew with Espanyol on Saturday opened up the opportunity for Real Madrid to surpass them, however, Los Blancos failed to capitalize on the situation.
The weekend results now leave Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga, two points clear of Barcelona and four points ahead of Real Madrid. However, Barcelona has a game in hand over its other two rivals since the Catalan giants were recently involved in the Club World Cup, which they won.
Madrid led the match twice, the first of which came from Karim Benzema, who scored early following a fine move which included Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Dani Pajero equalized for the home side right before half-time converting a penalty, following a Pepe foul on Andre Gomes.
Matteo Kovacic of Madrid was given marching orders around the hour mark for a clumsy tackle. However, this did not stop Real from scoring and Bale gave the lead to the visitors with an excellent header in the 82nd minute of the match.
The goal served enough reason for Rafael Benitez to smile on the sidelines as everything was set for the Los Merengues to take three points from the match. But, it was not to be as Paco Alcacer equalized for the home team immediately.
Things could have gotten worse for the visitors in injury time when Alvaro Negredo was presented with a clear opportunity to score but placed the shot right to Kaylor Navas.
"We could have won, we could have lost too." Neville said as reported by The Guardian.
"This performance deserves more praise than criticism. I can’t avoid that people speculate [about my future]. But I can make sure that the team works the way it did today." Benitez stated after the match.