Costa Rica star keeper Keylor Navas allowed as many goals in his Real Madrid debut as he did during the entire World Cup. But he has teammate Xabi Alonso partially to blame for his team’s defensive follies in a 2-1 friendly loss to Italy’s Fiorentina on Saturday.
With the start, Navas became the first Tico to play for the world-class European club. The goalie signed with Real Madrid in the offseason following his spectacular World Cup run.
Real Madrid struck first — four minutes into the match – on a goal by, who else, Cristiano Ronaldo. But after an ugly turnover by the Spanish midfielder Alonso, Navas had no chance on a perfect header by Fiorentina’s Mario Goméz at the 27th minute.
In the second half, Navas got beat by the Fiorentina attack. But Alonso had a chance to bail Navas out. Instead Alonso ended up scoring the game-winner for Fiorentina with his own-goal at the 69th minute.
Navas, who’s battling Spain national team goalkeeper Iker Casillas for the starting role with Real Madrid, at least had two good-looking saves on the Italian squad. Still, this proved to be a disappointing first match for the Tico.
