Excellent Eibar succumb to 2-1 home reverse against Real Madrid
Despite giving a fine account of themselves, the Armeros were powerless to prevent Ronaldo from bagging a brace
Eibar slipped to defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in a Matchday 28 fixture in which the hosts gave as good as they got. At no point were the Armeros intimidated and they ultimately came just minutes away from taking something from the game. Ronaldo handed Los Blancos the lead before Iván Ramis levelled terms shortly after the restart. In the final stages, the Portuguese attacker netted his second of the game and what proved to be the the winning goal.
Eibar came out all guns blazing right from the first whistle and showed all of their intent in the early exchanges. José Luis Mendilibar's troops camped themselves in the visitors' half and were beginning to make some inroads on Keylor Navas's goal. However, a lack of ruthlessness prevented the hosts from making the breakthrough.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, were patiently biding their time as they waited for the chance to strike on the counter-attack. Los Merengues capitalised on a mistake to launch a quick breakaway as the Armeros looked to play the ball out from the back. This lightning counter-attack culminated in Ronaldo firing the ball past Marko Dmitrović to put the visitors 1-0 up. Before this, Takashi Inui had come close for the hosts when Navas turned his effort behind for a corner.
After the restart, the Armeros came out in determined mood as they sought to turn things around, and within five minutes they drew themselves level from a corner. Pedro León's inch-perfect delivery was met by Ramis, who expertly headed home to restore parity. The Real Madrid riposte wasn't slow in coming as Luka Modric squandered the chance to restore the visitors' lead. Shortly afterwards, Dmitrović was called into action, pulling off a magnificent save to push Ronaldo's rasping strike over the bar.
As the minutes ticked by, Eibar grew stronger and were now applying some real pressure. The Armeros sensed that they had the chance to turn the scoreline around and had several opportunities to take the lead. Paulo nearly caught Madrid out from a corner on 76' and minutes later, Kike was denied by Navas as the home side enjoyed their best spell of the game.
However, in the closing stages, Real Madrid made no mistake when presented with the chance to secure the spoils. Just when an Armeros' goal looked most likely, Ronaldo met Lucas Vázquez's inviting centre from the right to emphatically head home the winner.