Wednesday’s 2-0 LaLiga victory at home over struggling Las Palmas helped Real Madrid recover from their agonizing derby loss. This was made possible by goals from Brahim Daz and Joselu.
After being beaten 3-1 by Atletico Madrid on Sunday, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti made five changes to the starting lineup, resting LaLiga’s leading scorer Jude Bellingham and starting new signing Diaz.
Despite being by far the better team, the hosts missed more than a dozen easy chances in the first half, including sitters from close range from Diaz and Joselu.
Lvaro Valles, the goalie, frustrated them by making many excellent stops before Diaz scored a close-range goal in the final seconds of the first half to break the scoreless tie.
In place of the injured David Alaba, substitute Lucas Vázquez crossed the ball low from inside the box to Diaz, who fired an unstoppable shot into the top corner of the goal.
With Thibaut Courtois and Éder Milito likely sidelined for the remainder of the season, Alaba added to Madrid’s injury worries.
After recovering from a knee operation, Arda Güler was anticipated to be available to play against Las Palmas. However, he suffered a thigh injury during practice that will further postpone his club debut.
Vincius Junior, a Brazilian attacker, returned to the team off the bench after missing a month, while Ferland Mendy started the game again and Dani Carvajal was an inactive replacement.
“We’ll think about the good side, which is we’ve got Mendy back, we’ll get Carvajal back. Rudiger had a knock,” Ancelotti said. “He thinks he’ll be fine for Saturday. Alaba won’t be there, he has an abductor problem, and we’ll see over the next few days what we can do for Saturday.”
He added: “For now we have Rudiger and Nacho, who finished today, let’s see how they recover. Marvel from the academy has trained with us, [Álvaro] Carrillo, they’re very good. Right now we don’t have another option. Let’s see. I think Rudiger will be fine.”
In the 54th minute, Joselu increased Real’s lead by directing Rodrygo’s lobbed cross into the goal. The hosts then easily secured the victory.
“We created a lot of chances. I think we should have scored more but we played a very complete game and after a defeat it’s always nice to win, especially at home,” Diaz told Movistar Plus.
Madrid surpassed third-placed Barcelona, who was held to a 2-2 tie by Mallorca on Tuesday, to move up to second position with 18 points.
After coming from behind to defeat Villarreal 2-1 on Wednesday and remain unbeaten through seven games of the LaLiga season, Girona is the unexpected leader with 19 points.
