The World Cup is almost here and Madridistas called by their National Teams are getting ready to defend their county colors after concluding a good first half of the season (almost half of the season). Before the WC start Real Madrid played three games, one in UCL and two in La Liga, beating Celtic in a great game and suffering a defeat in Vallecas before returning to the victory in a home game vs Cadiz. But how did Madridistas present themselves in front of the public? And what is to be expected after the World Cup?
Real vs Celtic 5-1
Real Madrid secured their place as winners of Champions League Group F by beating Celtic 5-1 at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Two penalties from Luka Modric and Rodrygo made it 2-0 at half time and then goals from Marco Asensio, Vinicius Jr and Fede Valverde put Celtic to the sword in the second half.
It only took Real Madrid six minutes to get ahead and put themselves in pole position to top the group. A shot from Marco Asensio hit the outstretched arm of Mortiz Jenz in the box and gave a penalty. Modric stepped and calmly dispatched the spot-kick and settled any nerves about losing top spot. After a couple of promising moments for Celtic, Asensio was released down the right and played the ball across the box for Vinicius Jr at the far post. After having his shot saved by Joe Hart, the ball came to Rodrygo who found Matthew O'Riley’s arm giving another penalty to Madrid. It was Rodrygo who stepped up and he found the bottom corner and made it 2-0.
Six minutes into the second half, the game was truly wrapped up as Asensio got a goal that his play deserved. Valverde played it wide where Dani Carvajal could lift it to the edge of the box. Asensio then sidefooted it into the bottom corner calmly. It swiftly became 4-0 when Valverde played a superb cross into the box where Vinicius Jr was waiting to flick it into the back of the net.
The rout continued with a goal from Valverde with 20 minutes to play. The midfielder certainly deserved to get a goal after a great display. The next action was a superb freekick from Jota to give the Celtic fans something to cheer about and make it 5-1. Real Madrid finished the group with 13 points, joined by RB Leipzig in the second round, with Shakhtar Donetsk gone into the Europa League.
“Some opponents are good at free-kicks and sometimes you concede like that. The game and the performance were good from the start. The team was focussed. We didn’t want any problems, just to play well, and we did that today", Ancelotti said after the game, before commenting the great performance of the young players: It’s more about the mental aspect of the players. Now they’re more involved and have more confidence, especially Valverde. He’s improved dramatically in terms of the goals he scored last season. Vini moves better off the ball and finds good positions inside the area. We’ve managed to replace Karim, who was the star player last season”.
Rayo Vallecano – Real Madrid 3-2
Real Madrid suffered the very first defeat of this La Liga season in Vallecas. Los Blancos fell to a 3-2 defeat in a wild back-and-forth game at Rayo Vallecano. It was really a tough game with Real Madrid never really finding the way into the game and Vallecano pushing too hard to get theirs, helped by a overpopulated and enthusiastic stadium. Rayo dominated the opening stages and scored an early opener when Santi Comesana fired in Fran Garcia's cutback.
Real Madrid were overwhelmed throughout the first half, but were handed a get-out-of-jail-free card when Fran Garcia was punished for a tangle with Marco Asensio, with Luka Modric converting the penalty in the 37th minute. Then, before Rayo Vallecano could catch their breath, Eder Militao turned in at a corner to make it 2-1 to the visitors. That wild first half was then capped off with an Alvaro Garcia strike just before the break, which was so powerful that it basically went through Thibaut Courtois, making it 2-2 at half time.
In the second half, they did recover the lead after Dani Carvajal had swatted a bouncing ball away with a flailing arm inside the area. Although Courtois saved Oscar Trejo's first attempt, a retake was ordered as Carvajal was inside the box before the ball was kicked. The Belgian guessed the right way again, but Trejo's kick squeezed in. From there, Real Madrid pushed for an equaliser and had a great chance just before the 10 minutes of stoppage time, but Rodrygo fired over from a yard or two out when it looked easier to score than miss. Although Real Madrid kept trying the result did not change.
“We needed to be a bit tougher. We had trouble playing out from the back. We could’ve played more direct balls forward and we lost a few individual duels. The quality was lacking a bit for us to draw the game. We had chances to score that we’d put away normally and we were a bit below par in terms of toughness”, Ancelotti said after the game.
Although it seemed like Madrid was struggling physically, the coach had another opinion: “The problem in today’s game wasn’t a physical one. When I talk about winning balls and strength, I’m not talking about the physical element. Not getting the ball out from the back could be because of strategy, which perhaps wasn’t the most appropriate. We didn’t play the long ball. The manager may have failed somewhere…”
Real Madrid vs Cadiz 2-1
Although it was expected a better gameplay, Real Madrid managed to get back to the win in the game vs Cadiz at Bernabeu and conclude this pre-World Cup period in the best way. Goals from Eder Militao and Toni Kroos in either half looked like Los Blancos were set for a comfortable win, only for a late Lucas Perez strike to cause a nervy finish. In the end, the hosts held on to earn three points after a draw to Girona and a defeat to Rayo Vallecano.
It was the visitors who fired the first serious warning. Full-back Espino tried his luck from 35 yards and his rasping effort had Thibaut Courtois beaten, only for the crossbar to come to Madrid's rescue. Aurelien Tchouameni then saw two long range efforts fly over the bar as Madrid gradually gained control of the game. At the vital moment, with five minutes before the break, Madrid found the breakthrough. Kroos' initial corner was cleared but, when it came back to him, the German put in a perfect cross for an unmarked Eder Militao to glance home the opening goal.
Early in the second half, Los Blancos almost doubled their lead. A swift counter-attack almost culminated with a Fede Valverde goal, only for a heroic block deflecting the ball over the bar. With 20 minutes to go, Real Madrid got their long-awaited second goal. The ball flicked up for Kroos on the edge of the box and the German connected perfectly, lashing the ball beyond Ledesma for 2-0.
At that point, the home fans, and players, thought it was game over, but Cadiz had other ideas. Lucas Perez narrowed the deficit with 10 minutes remaining after Courtois twice fumbled the ball inside his area, setting up a grandstand finish. Then, deep into injury time, a fine Cadiz move saw Lucas Perez dink the ball into the box and find Espino. With Courtois stranded, and the full-back all alone, all it needed was a subtle glance to grab an equaliser but, instead, he got far too much on the header and Madrid gleefully saw it fly over the bar. Real Madrid stays in the 2nd place, two points behind Barca who has had really a great season in La Liga until now despite losing to Real Madrid. It will surely continue being a tough race between the historic rivals after the World Cup.
Ancelotti analyzed this victory as follows: “The break comes at a good time for us. We’ve had a good first half of the season. We’ve reached this final stage a bit light, but we got the win to finish. Now we can rest, knowing that we’ve got 35 points in the league, which is more than last year. We didn’t need the Ballon d’Or man, who scored 50 goals last season. We’re satisfied. We went into these last games with a bit of fatigue. It’s normal to be up against it. When you think it’s going to be 3-0 and you miss, the other team might score. So we suffered a bit in the final minutes, but that’s normal against a team who played well for 90 minutes”.
Something on the provocations on Vinicius: “Vinicius is handling what’s happening very well and he’s in control of his opponents. He’s been kicked a lot in recent games and he’s controlled himself. The other day I saw a statistic that’s significant for Spanish football. It says that from the top five leagues, it’s the one with the most red cards. 55 compared to the ten from the Premier League. I don’t want to say that it should’ve been a red card today, although for me it is. But there are a lot given that shouldn’t be. This affects Spanish football, which isn’t an ugly league”.
His World Cup time: “I’m going to watch it at home. I like football and it’s going to an entertaining and competitive World Cup. There aren’t any favourites and all of the sides will play their part. I will watch my players with their countries such as Spain, Brazil, Germany, Croatia, Uruguay. There are lots of teams. I hope we see a good World Cup and that the best team wins. Unfortunately, Italy won't be there".
A great Real Madrid is needed after the World Cup, but with the downsides erased!
In these last three games there like in many before these, were seen some things which are to be preserved at all costs and others to be improved when the World Cup is over. The performance and the enthusiasm of the youngsters who are greatly adapting not only to each other but also to the highest stages of football, is something to keep in mind as they are giving a great contribution even in difficult games where a lot of experience is needed.
Then it comes the Real Madrid’s ability to never give up and try the best which was seen in games like those vs RB Leipzig and Shakhtar among others. Besides that, the great form of Modric and Kroos will certainly need to be protected at all costs, because where can a team go without its senators…? Kroos will have plenty of time to keep his physical form and even improve it as he is not representing his country in the WC, meanwhile Modric will need special attention during and after the competition.
Another point to be protected is the chances created by the team. Real Madrid has been producing plenty of chances in every game, even in those games where the team has not had a bright display. The midfielders are adapting quite well and the attack is doing even better with the increasing involvement of the youngsters. All of this helped by fine displays by the defenders who try to push forward helping the team and trying to make the most out of every opportunity to put their names in the scoresheet.
However two problems are also observed in this: Benzema, who has been struggling to find his best form and the phenomenon of not converting the chances into goals in a lot of moments. The Frenchman has been injured and a few times and also rested to not risk anything. The World Cup will certainly have him more involved but there is a lot of caution to proceed with! As for the conversion of the chances, Ancelotti will certainly work a lot on, as he has also raised this as a concern stating that the opponents may strike anytime even when you control the game. If the team does not score whenever it’s possible as this will turn an easy game into a tough one and the team will end up suffering at the end when the opponent will have nothing to lose and use 100% of their aggressivity to get at least 1 point.
There are many Madridistas called by their National Teams to represent them in this World Cup. All of the are surely, important players for both Madrid and their Countries, which means they will be “heavily” utilized. This is a very important detail, as they will need to properly rest after the competition in order to be ready for the other part of the season with Real Madrid. Ancelotti has already expressed his concern regarding this issue and has stated that the real struggle of this season for all clubs will be having the players back in the best possible condition after the World Cup. The medical team and the athletic coaches will surely have a great work to do!
For all Madridistas, Real Madrid will get back in action before the arrival of the 2023 as the next La Liga game will be played of December 31 (almost certain) vs Valladolid in José Zorrilla stadium. As for the Champions League, Real Madrid will meet their opponent Liverpool in Anfield on February 21, 2023. Until then, we will surely enjoy a competition we all love: the World Cup!
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