Mauricio Pellegrino is the only coach to have the honor of shaking hands... 3 Real Madrid coaches in the same season, when the Royal team visited Leganes in the latest match of round 32 of La Liga.
Leganes are considered an united opponent for Real, despite last January they beat the "White Vultures" 1-0 in the second leg of the Spanish King's Cup round of 16 (3-0 in the first leg).
However, the team did not have much motivation because they were 10 points ahead of the "red light" group and still played a match against the Champions League side.
Zinedine Zidane has kept Gareth Bale on the bench after unconvincing performances, Dani Carvajal has returned from injury and Casemiro has made his first start since the return of the French coach.
This season, Municipal Burtaque is not an easy place to conquer, as Leganes have only lost 2 out of 15 matches played. Their tight defensive strategy has been quite effective thanks to their ability to counter-attack as well as take advantage of opportunities.
Early in gaining possession of the ball, but penetrating the Leganes defense was not easy at all. The right wing was the more frequent attack as Zidane saw the effect of bringing Marco Asensio to this wing in the second half of the match against Eibar.
In the 8th minute, Asensio had a chance to penetrate the penalty area and receive a pass from Isco alarcon, but the kick was not dangerous enough to defeat Ivan Cuellar.
Leganes are loyal to their defensive counter-attacking style and thanks to the active competition of the upper players, they have created challenges for Keylor Navas' goal. In the 15th minute, Martin Braithwaite answered with a close-range header but unfortunately it was not accurate enough.
Despite being forced to play, Leganes unexpectedly opened the scoring when the referee was about to end the first half. Receiving a reasonable pass back from Braithwaite, Jonathan Silva had a dangerous left-footed cushion that left goalkeeper Keylor Navas unable to fly the ball to save the Spanish Royal team.
Real also did not take much time to find an equalizer. In the 51st minute, after two consecutive shots, the French striker scored an equalizer, but before that, it was necessary to mention Luka Modric's very good handling before assisting his teammates. Benzema's 18th goal in Liga this season.
In this half, Real Madrid were more vigilant in defense so that the home team did not have many dangerous situations. On the other side of the pitch, quick coordination and few touches were carried out, but the final shots of Asensio and Marcelo could not beat Cuellar once more.
Real Madrid returned with only 1 point to make Burtaque a destination that all 4 teams in the Top 4 of La Liga cannot conquer at the moment. However, Real are not worried about losing 3rd place in La Liga because they have left 4th-placed Sevilla 9 points behind, at the time when the season was only 6 rounds away from the end.
For Benzema personally, he scored for Real for the 4th consecutive match. Notably, in the last 6 matches, he scored 7 goals, contributed 3 assists and was voted the best player 4 times.
