- On Wednesday, Real lost at home to Shakhtar Donetsk 2: 3
- Until the break, the Kings played horribly and the score was 0: 3. After switching sides, Zidane’s players tried to chase, but ultimately failed
- “It was an insult to our history”, “shame”, “I turned off the TV after 35 minutes” – this is only the mildest comment from Spain
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After losing in a bad style to Cadiz, a LaLiga newcomer, it was argued that the defeat could turn out to be something positive. “Failure always helps to wake up and correct what is not working,” argued Thibaut Courtois on Saturday. Four days have passed, but nothing has changed in Kings’ game. Zinedine Zidane stirred the roster again, but he missed again. Effect? 0-3 until the break with Shakhtar, who came to Madrid weakened by a lack of 13 players from the first team, with an average age of eleven just over 23 and a coach who described his team’s situation as “terrible”.
Real Madrid’s first half was embarrassing, especially for the club that won the European Cup thirteen times. “It was an insult to our history”, “shame”, “I turned off the TV after 35 minutes” – these are only the mildest comment from Spain. The second half was better, but the end result – 2: 3 – can be misleading. That the Kings have lost to a rival decimated by the coronavirus pandemic is bad news. But even worse should be the fact that Courtois was their best player in their Champions League debut. Were it not for the Belgian, the result could be much higher.
This last sentence can be inserted into virtually any of Real’s last matches. From the start of the season, Thibaut is by far the best player of the Kings. This is a good summary of the game of one of the best clubs in the world. After the LaLiga reboot, the Madriders were delighted with their pragmatism – they defended well, they were brilliantly run out, and they were impressive in their effectiveness. Today, nothing is left of their strengths. Though Courtois works miracles, Raphael Varane plays like a junior without Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo confirms his time is running out. Pressing Los Blancos was well summed up by the legendary Jorge Valdano: “They attack like Indians in movies – first one goes, after a long break the other … There is no cooperation”. And the offensive lacks a valuable alternative to Karim Benzema, without which the game loses any rhythm.
A dozen or so weeks ago, Madrid celebrated the Spanish championship, but the success could postpone the necessary reconstruction, because today Los Blancos seem to be a completely different team. Even the Champions League, a game for which the Kings used to be especially motivated, did not help them. Real seem to have no plan A, without Sergio Ramos he lacks soul and the hassle of physical preparation is not repaired in three days, and that is all left until El Clásico.
It is dangerously similar to the situation in the 2018/19 season, when the team was taken over by Julen Lopetegui after winning the Champions League. The Spaniard was fired after fourteen matches, and his fate was sealed by the defeat at El Clásico against Barcelona (1: 5). So far, no one is talking loudly about Zidane’s dismissal, but already in Spain it is more and more often suggested that the coach of the Kings at Camp Nou will play for the job. This is what happens in the great Spanish clubs. Only here and now matters. Your resume only covers the last few matches. The road from hero to zero is short, even if your name is Zinedine Zidane and you are the second most successful coach in Real Madrid history.
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