Two well worked goals and a solid team performance saw off a young talented Real Madrid C team with a 2-1 win in their own stadium. Prepare to faint – there was even a quality ref who let the game flow.
Medina got the nod ahead of Bravo and Abel to replace Yeray, suspended for two games, in the holding midfield role, Llorente returned at left back and Amado kept his place in the centre of defence ahead of Tarantino. Just three minutes into the match Cristo Martin put in a long deep cross from the left and found Loro who glanced the ball into the net with his head. Chechu looked back on form forcing a save from a Moyano (above) ball and hitting a short corner for Aridane to test the keeper after a flick on. Good moves were flowing, Loro found Chechu with a delicate lay off and his floated cross found Aridane to keep the goalie on his toes.
Llorente was again making runs up the left but was missing in action after 14 minutes leaving his flank wide open, a low pass eluded Sergio and Ramirez tapped the ball in to level. That stirred Madrid, Ramirez beat the static defence and it needed a touch from Sergio to send the ball for a corner, then Sobrino opened up the CDT back line, thankfully Sergio was on it again. Back came Tenerife, a looping corner from Chechu wasn’t far off target and Amado popped up in the box to go close. Cristo repeated his earlier bomb into the area but this time Aridane couldn’t quite reach it.
The second half started well, Loro’s shot was helped over the bar by a deflection, but the winning goal soon arrived. The ball broke to Inigo Ros in space, he took his time to pick out Chechu wide and admired the way his midfield team mate drilled the ball into the bottom corner of the net. There were still a few scares, Madrid flashed the ball across the Tenerife goal mouth and Llorente made two timely defensive interventions. Guillem Marti had already replaced Aridane and Suso swapped passing handshakes with Chechu. The first touch for Suso was to launch a raid and force a corner, Nico made his seasonal debut for Loro and also looked lively. The ref Lixandru , one of the youngest at 32 had been pleasingly invisible and when Ramirez launched himself into the Tenerife penalty box he wasn’t fooled by the dive – wonder who taught him that.
Nico and Marti both gave the home goalie some more practice, there was one last scare though in injury time as a home sub fired at Sergio who dropped the ball but recovered to scramble it away one handed. The win was fully deserved and loudly applauded by a good sprinkling of traveling fans.