Real Madrid: Once again failed in itself

AnalyseReal Madrid put on a poor showing in the Copa semi-final first leg, losing 1-0 to a far from overwhelming Barcelona. In the end, the feeling of having failed again because of oneself prevails. Are Blancos now drawing the right lessons from this game?

Again and again Barcelona

When referee José Munuera Montero blew the whistle for the clash between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona at 10:54 p.m. and the Catalans’ 0-1 win in the first leg became official, from the royal point of view one had the feeling that they had already lived through this film several times. Going into the encounter as favourites, they dominated the action for long stretches, but remained frighteningly toothless on offense and in the end had to admit defeat to a highly effective “Blaugrana”, who coldly exploited one of two shots on goal. In the end, you could even count yourself lucky not to have lost even more and to go into the second leg with an even bigger mortgage, because Ansu Fati even “prevented” the possible 0:2 in minute 72 when he shot his teammate Franck Kessié unhappily steered next to the case. From the royal point of view, much worse than the unnecessary defeat was that feeling of having lost out again in a duel with your archrival, where you failed more because of yourself than because of an overpowering opponent.

Some madridistas may have felt like they were in a bad movie and felt a little taken back to the Clásico in the first half of 2017/18, when they absolutely dominated the game for 45 minutes, only to lose the game in a few minutes in the second half due to individual blackouts Giving away minutes and losing 0:3 – without really knowing why. Even though the playing quality of the meeting six years ago was admittedly much higher and Barcelona in particular were able to play with the best players that day – unlike this time in the Copa – this time too there is this feeling of: Actually, so much more would have been possible. And actually, from a Madrid point of view, one had hoped to finally have left behind these unspeakable Clásico bankruptcies, in which the pendulum all too often swung in the direction of the Catalans due to small things. But after ten previous encounters without defeat, they are now back with three bankruptcies from the last four duels, two of which were even extremely violent. You could get the feeling at times that Los Blancos are suffering from a little trauma when it comes to the Catalans.

Barça didn’t play like Barça

Because: You haven’t had such a big chance to really hurt your archrival for a long time. In terms of personnel, Xavi Hernández’s team was badly battered (with Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembélé, Pedri and Andreas Christensen four absolute key players were missing), and after the Europa League elimination against Manchester United and the defeat in the league against relegation candidate Almería knocked on the weekend (0:1), but the Blancos could – one is inclined to say, once again – not capitalize on it. And that regardless of the fact, that Barça was anything but Barça-like. Instead of high pressing and ball possession football, Ronald Araújo and Co. dug deep into their own half and tried their luck in counterattacking, which – apart from the goal and the huge chance from Kessié – was more or less successful. But: At least Barcelona came up with clear final situations, which you can’t say with the Merengues despite optically oppressive superiority and 65 percent ball possession.

Barcelona acted as some teams in the league had recently done successfully: defending in a deep block, the attempts to cross were more or less effortlessly defended due to the often inadequate box occupation, Vinícius Júnior was doubled again and again and so hardly found his way into the game, which is why the Royal hardly created anything, since no danger was broadcast on the right flank either. The fact that the Catalans then served the opening goal themselves through Eduardo Camavinga’s individual error fitted into the picture of this messed-up evening.

Is Ancelotti taking his lessons from this game?

And yet, after the game, it gave the impression that Blancos were actually quite satisfied with their performance in front of their home crowd. While Thibaut Courtois analyzed that one “Dominates the game” and Barcelona won in the end, „even though they don’t deserve it”thought Luka Modrić that you can “better team” had been and was confident of turning the whole thing around in the second leg. And Carlo Ancelotti didn’t seem too bothered by the result: „We didn’t play exactly the game we wanted to play but it still gives us confidence going into the second leg. We didn’t get a good result in 90 minutes but we just have to repeat the game in Barcelona.”

more on the subject

Ancelotti sees no need for change for the second leg: “Have self-confidence.” Continue reading

Purposeful optimism or a dangerously incorrect assessment of one’s own performance? Of course, you can’t and shouldn’t declare Los Blancos dead. There have been plenty of examples of this over the past few weeks. Nevertheless, this Clásico again revealed two major construction sites. First: Against deep opponents, Blancos need a better occupation of the penalty area and a more balanced positional play. Overloading the left wing repeatedly tried to create temporary superiority situations, but did not manage to seriously put the opponent under pressure because the often completely deserted right side – Federico Valverde often moved in the direction of the center – did not force Barcelona was able to defend in width and was therefore able to relatively easily establish a tie near the ball. Rodrygo’s substitution might have had to have taken place earlier in order to be able to change the statics of the game in the long term.

And the second conspicuousness: Possibly with Toni Kroos and Modrić together on the field, they now lack the necessary energy to bring the necessary intensity onto the pitch against top teams. This has nothing to do with denying the necessary class of the old stars, but the Champions League games last season were the first indication that the duo is only temporarily capable of absolute top performances on the field. Especially since Kroos recently noticed the lack of liveliness due to the long illness. However, as the game progressed, the impression grew that a wild and unconventional Daniel Ceballos would do the game just as well as Valverde’s dynamism and ball-carrying skills down the middle. If the center is otherwise the showpiece and the machine room of the royal team, this time the build-up game seemed very phlegmatic and predictable. At least Barcelona didn’t seem to have much trouble defending away from Los Blancos’ attacking attempts. And the transition game often lacked the pace and the necessary verticality.

The bottom line, however, is the feeling of having missed a great opportunity. A chance to really hurt the bruised archrival and make a statement for the final phase of the season. And what hurts especially: This time it wasn’t because of an excellent opponent, but because of the royals themselves, who once again couldn’t show their true colors in a Clásico. After all, there are still two opportunities this season to revise this impression.

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