A much needed victory for Real Madrid

 

A shocking defeat against Alaves in the La Liga!

A nightmare in Ukraine in the Champions League!

The future of Zinedine Zidane was hanging on a thin rope!

The last week was tumultuous for Real Madrid and their charismatic coach Zinedine Zidane. Whenever a team loses, naturally the coach becomes the target of criticism and Zidane was taken to the cleaners by the fans and critics. He had made mistakes and Zidane is a person who never steps back from taking all the blame on himself. The shockers against Alaves and Shakhtar and Donest were not taken lightly by Zidane, but he is someone, who knows how to get things fixed.

Before the start of the match, Zidane stated, “We know the situation, but we want to try to compete. It is another opportunity to change the chip. I trust my players very much. The situation is complicated; we have been through a similar situation many times. Tomorrow is a match to show what Real Madrid is!”

Despite all the criticism and pressure, the man remained confident of a comeback.

And, he was well aware of what a tough week he would have on his plate to prove his worth once again!

It was time for the Los Blancos to travel to Seville.

Real Madrid have an excellent record against Sevilla and have won 31 games out of a total of 50 matches played between the two sides since the turn of the century. Sevilla have managed 16 victories against Real Madrid and given the current state of Real Madrid, Julen Lopetegui would expect to squeeze their opponent.

Even though, the previous meeting between the two sides earlier this year ended in a hard-fought 2-1 victory for Real Madrid.

Casemiro scored both goals on the day.

Zidane started with Casemiro in the midfield along with his trusted warriors – Toni Kroos and Luka Modroc. Zidane was well aware of his defensive fragilities and to cover the weakness, the inclusion of Casemiro was a must.

In the absence of Sergio Ramos, the defensive duties were given to Raphael Varane, Nacho Fernadez at the center, and Lucas Vazquez and Ferland Mendy on the flanks.

Both Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes started on the wings with Karim Benzema in the center.

The boys of Zidane showed their intent from the word go – Vazquez made a very good run from the right and picked out Vinicius at the near post but his shot across goal was just wide of the target from a tight angle.

A few minutes later, Bounou was closed down by Vinicius to his own goal and his deflection sent the ball looping up towards the far post. Benzema chased that down but Diego Carlos was in the right place to head it off the line – a relief for Sevilla!

Rodrygo threatened on the break through-ball towards Benzema, but Vidal weathered the storm.

Kroos discovered himself in a pocket of space just outside the box of Sevilla and curled a shot towards the top-right corner.

Bounou was beaten, but the shot went wide.

Modric stepped up to take control over the midfield and produced a through-ball to Vinicius, who was outweighed by Kounde. Then, just 7 minutes before half time, Rodrygo passed the ball to Benzema on the edge of the box and curled a low shot towards the far corner but Bounou got down quickly to play it safely.

In the first 45 minutes, Real Madrid were the better side but failed to break the deadlock.

Sevilla’s second half was inspiring and put the visitors on the back foot.

But Real Madrid needed just a break to take the crucial lead.

A quick counterattack by Real Madrid had Sevilla under pressure.

 Benzema produced an influential pass towards the left flank where Mendy was catching-in. Mendy squared the ball into the box. Vinicius made the run to the near post and touches the ball on and it deflects off Bounou, who came off his line, and into the net.

The most important lead of this week for the Los Blancos and on the touchline Zidane breathed a sigh of relief.

The Real Madrid defence and Thibaut Courtois exhibited enough alertness when Sevilla posed a threat for the equalizer.

The last 15 minutes were nervy as the home team came close to score.

But this time around, the Real Madrid backline was not sluggish.

Real Madrid win their first league game since October with a 1-0 win over Sevilla and it was much needed to boost the self-confidence.

Note: This article has been posted in Cricketsoccer as CSdesk on 05/12/2020 A much needed victory for Real Madrid

Thank You

Faisal Caesar