* A week which began badly for Real Madrid as Barcelona leapfrogged them in the league got worse as they lost 4-3 at home to Schalke in the Champions League, qualifying but with a chorus of boos and press opprobrium.
Real Baled out of another crisis but the clasico beckons.
Fans turning up at the Bernabeu on Wednesday expecting a cakewalk after Real’s comfortable 2-0 away win in Gelsenkirchen instead had to endure a rollercoaster ride to the next round and the awkward spectacle of former merengue Klaas-Jan Huntelaar bagging a brace and almost knocking out his former employers.
Skipper Dominoqq Online Terbaik Iker Casillas tried to round up his shattered troops at the final whistle for a centre-circle mea culpa to the fans but Cristiano Ronaldo refused to take part and the boos rang out anyway.
Cries for Costa Rican custodian Keylor Navas to be fast-tracked into the first team returned as Casillas failed to stop three goals, but the veteran goalkeeper also kept his club alive in the competition with a crucial late save.
Carlo Ancelotti announced Navas would start at home to Levante but that Casillas would return for next week’s crunch clásico with Barcelona, a game which could decide the title.
Opinion polls showed 56% of Real fans blamed the players, 27% Ancelotti and 17% owner Florentino Perez for the defeat and subsequent ‘crisis’.
Three wins, three losses and a draw in their last seven games is not the stuff champions are made of, and Barça’s stunning show at Manchester City and bypassing of Real could not have come at a worse time for Los Merengues.
Of the players, few came away with much credit against Schalke although Karim Benzema’s sole strike and Ronaldo’s two goals were …