MADRID: Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster hailed the champion spirit of his team after they ground out a 1-0 win over Real Murcia despite playing 70 minutes of the match with ten men after Miguel Torres was sent off for a crude challenge.
Dutch international Wesley Sneijder scored the all-important goal on 59 minutes as Real surged nine points clear of Barcelona and ten of Villarreal yesterday.
“After the red card we still went for the victory and winning with one man less is commendable,” said Real coach Bernd Schuster. “It is not easy finding space especially with ten men and I am happy with the result and how my team played.
“We have to take it one match at a time now and try not to lose any of them and then we will see where we end up.” Villarreal lost 1-0 against Almeria to make it a perfect weekend for Real. ‘The Yellow Submarine’ had goalkeeper Diego Lopez sent off on 16 minutes and fell victim to a late goal as they spurned the chance to go above Barcelona into second.
With Barcelona seemingly incapable of killing teams off they drew 2-2 with Recreativo Huelva on Saturday after twice going ahead — Real look set to retain the league although it has been far from a high-quality title race.
Murcia started with a 4-5-1 formation to put a bottleneck in front of Real and Schuster responded with Robinho and Arjen Robben on the flanks to supply lone striker Raul.
But Schuster’s game plan was ruined on
19 minutes when Torres produced a foolish tackle from behind earning him a straight
red card.
Murcia, second from bottom in the standings, made their extra man count at times but were indecisive in front of goal showing why they average less than a goal a game. Real were jeered at half-time by their demanding home fans but winning is all the most
important thing and Sneijder’s goal lifted the gloom.
