Saturday night had reserved a not so sweet result for Real Madrid. A goalless draw against Real Betis at home was considered a disappointing result by most. This draw may make Real Madrid close this week as the third force of La Liga. From now on Zidane’s boys will depend on the rivals’ (Atletico & Barca) results...
For this game Zidane decided to make a few rotations. Dani Carvajal who is fresh and also needs to put more minutes on his feet to be as fit as possible for the match against Chelsea started over Odriozola. Also Isco started in the midfield (he was however the only possibility for Zidane since both Kroos and Valverde are unavailable). In the offensive department Vinicius was left on bench with Rodrygo starting.
On the field it was seen a sloppy Real Madrid and the physical condition was not the best as usually lately. Real Madrid had a lot of possession and more shots, whether they were blocked, on target or out of target. That means there were more chances for Real Madrid than for Real Betis. However the team was not clear enough. On the other had Real Betis seemed more clear and they were more organized trying mostly hitting on counter attacks and staying solid in the back. They also did the best to mark the white shirts as tightly as possible and tried to left as little spaces as possible.
The visitors were pressing Madrid high in the early stages, not giving them time to settle in the game, although they were yet to pose serious danger in the last third. Real Madrid created a high number of chances relative to their possession, but were more effective at creating goalscoring opportunities through individual skills than by organized team actions. With a strong opponent like Real Betis it both successful individual skills and organized team actions are needed to secure the three points. Besides this Real were effective at creating goalscoring opportunities from counter attacks, but this was a point that Betis also realized well! Getting hit with counter attacks by a team like Betis that is compact and organized is always dangerous. Another wasy Real Madrid tried to score was by using the free kicks that Betis gave away near their box. Unfortunately none was accurate enough. Besides free kicks, Real also tried to make on-play shots, mostly from out of the box, but the result was the same: low accuracy. The conclusion was that Real’s ways to score were not deficent, but more accuracy and more grind to put more pressure on the opponent and make them face real dangers. This was hard to achieve taking in consideration the physical state of the players, the level of the opponent and also the downpour and soaking pitch that made more difficult every combination attempt of the ball controlling team (mostly Real Madrid).
Karim Benzema had the hosts' first chance in the 25th minute after carving out space on the edge of the box but his low drive was kept out by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. Diego Lainez came close to giving Betis the lead four minutes later after exchanging passes with Sergio Canales on the edge of the box but his threatening strike missed just wide. The game was opening up in the closing phase of the first half, with end to end attacks but both sides lacked the finishing touches and the first stanza ended without goals. Zinedine Zidane's charges were spirited coming from the break and Real Madrid came closest to the goal first with Asensio who was first to try his luck with 53 minutes gone but his long-range effort ended up in Bravo's gloves. Then it followed with a mis-hit cross from Rodrygo which hit the bar plus a distance strike from Luka Modric which was comfortably parried by Claudio Bravo. Borja Iglesias had a great chance to give Manuel Pellegrini's troops the lead in the 65th minute after taking Canales' cross first-time but his toe-poked effort was saved shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois, in a one-on-one situation. Zidane made a double change in the last 20 minutes, as Alvaro Odriozola came on for Carvajal for fresh legs while Marcelo came on for Isco in a tactical move. In the 74th minute it was Casemiro with an attempt but his shot from the edge of the box struck the crossbar. Los Blancos were frustrated in attack and they made a double change again, as Hazard replaced Asensio while young midfielder Antonio Blanco came on for Modric, both for fresh legs. Madrid were pressing for a winner but they lacked the final product in the last third and at the end both sides shared one point each, with Los Blancos giving the leaders Atletico, who have a game in hand, the opportunity to make the difference bigger... Real Madrid are now unbeaten in their last 17 games. The run began on the 6th of February against Huesca and Zidane's men have won 12 of those games.
One positive note for Real was the return of record signing Eden Hazard after more than a month out injured and the Belgian looked sharp in the 15 minutes he played after coming off the bench, giving him a chance of a reunion with former club Chelsea in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg. He created more chances than anyone even why he had only a quarter in his disposal.
Dani Carvajal spoke after the match: "We didn't play well enough to get the victory and have taken a step back in the title race. We could have showed more hunger in the final third of the pitch and we've only got one point, which leaves us further away from the leaders. We couldn't get to the right crosses or anticipate where to run in the final few meters; we didn't get the small details right. We still want to send an optimistic message to the fans and we'll fight for the 15 points left but today was a chance to put the pressure on and we didn't take it."
Now, the team should focus on the next game in which Chelsea will be faced. Zidane will surely make the proper preparations to face the English team as Champions League just like La Liga is never easy even if you are named the favorite team. If some absent players will return until then everything will be more manageable and the chances to have a positive result will increase. However the calculations should be made with the team that is available in this moment as nothing is certain!
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