Teams: Real Madrid 0-0 Atletico Bilbao
Date: 22 December 2019
Venue: Santiago Bernabeu
Real Madrid ended the year two points behind LaLiga leaders FC Barcelona after dropping points at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday evening.
Los Blancos manager Zinedine Zidane made four changes to the team that drew against Barcelona in midweek, as Eder Militao took the place of Raphael Varane at centre-back, Luka Modric replaced the suspended Casemiro while Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo returned at the expense of Isco and Gareth Bale.
Madrid had a chance to grab an early lead in the 12th minute after Vinicius Junior exchanged passes with Karim Benzema to go clear on the left side but his side-footed shot was saved by Bilbao goalkeeper Unai Simon from close range.
The hosts kept on causing trouble going forward and they were unlucky not to open the scoring seven minutes later after Toni Kroos showed a great burst of pace to force his way through in the centre of the box but his looping effort was parried away by Simon and ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar.
Zidane's charges came very close again to breaking the deadlock with 12 minutes remaining of the first stanza after Benzema went clear on the right side and rounded Simon but his goal-bound shot from an acute angle was cleared on the line by Unai Nunez.
Bilbao thought they had snatched the lead with two minutes remaining of the first stanza after Kenan Kodro went clear on goal from a counter-attack and fired a powerful strike to the roof of the net but the goal did not count, as he was flagged offside and the sides went to the break goalless.
Madrid were struggling to create clear openings early in the second stanza and they were forced to make a change after Militao had an eye injury and he was replaced by Nacho, who crashed the crossbar with a diving header shortly after coming on just before before hour-mark.
The Basque outfit were playing on a break and they nearly caught Madrid with 22 minutes remaining after Inigo Lekue whipped an inviting cross towards the far post but Dani Carvajal made a crucial clearance to deny Inaki Williams a clear sight of goal.
Sergio Ramos came close to snatching the winner four minutes before time with a glancing header that hit the bottom post and cleared away, with Simon well beaten.
Madrid were attacking in numbers in the tail end but they could not create further chances and the sides shared the spoils, with Los Blancos remaining second on the log with 37 points, two points behind log-leaders Barcelona after playing their third successive draw, while Bilbao had to settle for seventh spot on the table with 28 points.
