Zinedine Zidane’s plan of rotating players had been working
well so far, but somehow, it failed to fetch the desired results against Real
Sociedad in the quarterfinals of Copa del Ray. The match was in front of the
home crowd – Santiago Bernabeu – where the Los Blancos were cooked.
James Rodriguez was played in the midfield alongside Toni
Kroos and Fede Valverde. Nacho Fernadez and Marcelo started on both the flanks,
while Brahim Diaz featured to showcase his talent. As a matter of fact, the
names suggest, the rotation policy of Zidane was not wrong at all – such
players bear enough experience and talent to pull things off against any
oppositions on a given day.
But surprisingly, the Los Blancos were off-colour.
Even a few days back, Zidane’s defence was widely praised by
many and considered one of the most important factors behind his brilliant
unbeaten run, but last night it looked shaky. Especially, during the
transition.
Sociedad exploited the space behind Nacho - Mikel Oyarzabal
would make a run without the ball behind him time and again, which was
overlooked. Eder Militao would have to come over and make an important
interception during that period.
James in the midfield failed to provide the solidity and
struggled to move up and down as the midfield was exposed without Casemiro.
Even offensively, Real Madrid lacked the creative touch
except for Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes – both of them consistently
threatened from both the flanks. Vinicius was a continuous threat to Gorosabel
all night. He was able to dribble past his marker over and over again and find
room for a cross or a shot. He also scored one disallowed goal in the second
half and set up Rodrygo’s goal to make it 2 - 4.
Alexander Isak was the hero of the night, but whether Real
Madrid made it tough for him or not remains a moot question. Overall, Real
Madrid had been below-par and finally, the fantastic unbeaten run came to an
end.
Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 07/02/2020 End of Real Madrid’s unbeaten run
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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