This draw may have strengthened both managers: Gary Neville still awaits his first league win, with Valencia, but this was impressive at times and there will be appreciation for the way that he sought victory, even at 2-2. Rafael Benítez could not win either at the stadium where grateful fans paid him homage but his team had come close.

Real Madrid took the lead with a wonderful goal a quarter of an hour in. Karim Benzema slotted the ball to Gareth Bale who back-heeled it to Cristiano Ronaldo on the edge of the area. He stopped it with his back to goal and, looking left, nudged it to the right with the outside of his foot for Benzema to take one, quick touch and then finish, low into the far corner, not so much a shot as a pass into the net. It had all happened in tight space, the passing swift, the touch perfect, a goal that almost had a feel of basketball to it.