U21 Report: Saints 1-1 Real Madrid

After a level first half where Saints could have gone ahead through Will Merry, Madrid took control after half time and went ahead when Thiago Pitarch fired home.

Saints produced a late stoppage-time comeback in front of a St Mary’s crowd of 10,907, though, when Okunola scored from close range after Gavin Bazunu, who was up for a late corner, saw his initial header saved, sending the strong home support wild.

Gavin Bazunu forced the equaliser late on (Photo: Luke Simcock)

A bright early spell for the hosts saw them force the first save of the game when Nick Oyekunle saw his header comfortably gathered by visiting goalkeeper Sergio Mestre.

The 13th minute saw Saints go close once again when a loose ball fell nicely to Tommy Dobson-Ventura following a corner and the centre-back flicked over the crossbar when off balance.

Tonda Eckert's side had stopped the Spanish giants creating during the game’s first quarter and the only moment of danger came from Diego Aguado – the full-back seeing his ball into the box bounce harmlessly wide of Bazunu’s goal.

Bazunu’s first save of the contest was also comfortable just after the half-hour mark, with Daniel Mesonero’s curled effort from the edge of the box directed straight at the Republic of Ireland international.

Saints then had their best opening of the first half shortly afterwards - Oyekunle playing a weighted ball through to Jay Robinson, whose ball across the box allowed Merry to force a save from Mestre at the near post.

Tommy Dobson-Ventura went close in the opening 45 minutes (Photo: Luke Simcock)

A big opportunity fell to Real's Daniel Yanez just before the interval when he found space to meet a cutback around 10 yards out, but he could only place his effort wide when coming onto the ball.

Into the second half, the visitors were fastest out of the blocks and saw both Mesonero and Bruno Iglesias go close to breaking the deadlock – the latter seeing a shot fly narrowly over from just outside the penalty area.

Bazunu was then on hand to make several important saves, getting two hands to Manu Serrano’s strike across goal before then denying Daniel Yanez soon after.

Saints were forced to defend for much of the second period and were dealt a blow when Real Madrid took the lead on 75 minutes as substitute Thiago fired home a clinical strike into the bottom corner.

Just when it looked like Saints were running out of time to level things up late on, a late charge saw them take a draw from the game.

Baylee Dipepa sprung onto a loose ball and saw his left-footed effort deflected wide of the far post, and Jake Vallance hooked over from the resulting corner.

Saints claimed a point in their opening group stage game (Photo: Luke Simcock)

Another late corner saw them find the equaliser. Bazunu, up for the set-piece in stoppage-time, won the first header in the box and forced a great save from his opposite number in goal, but Okunola was on hand to stab home the loose ball on the line.

Saints are next in action on Saturday 1st November when they travel away to face Tottenham Hotspur in Premier League 2, with kick off at the Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre set for 1:30pm.

Saints: Bazunu, Merry, Boot (Vallance 46'), Dobson-Ventura, Okunola, Fry (Whittaker 19’), Bragg (c), Williams (Rohart-Brown 83'), Akachukwu (Kakay 83'), Oyekunle, Robinson (Dipepa 65’).

Subs: Moody, O’Brien-Whitmarsh.

Goals: Okunola (90+4’).

Real Madrid: Mestre, Fortea, Rivas, Lamini, Aguado, David, Mesonero (Ángel 69'), Bruno (c), Yáñez (Thiago 69'), Castrelo (Leiva 61'), Ginés (Palacios 69').

Subs: Súnico, Serrano, Fortuny.

Goals: Thiago (76’).

Yellow cards: Yáñez, Aguado.