3 Takeaways from Real Madrid vs Napoli
By Ahmed Genina
Lorenzo Insigne ambushed The Royal Whites with an early goal in the 8th minute. However, Real Madrid managed to respond emphatically by scoring 3 goals and not allowing Napoli anywhere near Keylor Navas. Ahmed Genina tells you about the three biggest takeaways from Real’s 3-1 victory in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16:
Karim Benzema back is back in form:
There is no denying that Benzema’s performance today was a delightful sight for Madridistas. If he keeps himself on the right track, Benzema will be of great value in the coming weeks, as Madrid ready themselves to face Valencia and Napoli both away from home.
Once again, the Frenchman proves he has what it takes to be the best in his position. Nonetheless, he lacks consistency and a leader’s mentality.
2 – Someone needs to pounce on Ronaldo’s crosses:
Cristiano today showed a very underrated ability he possesses: assists.
In the second half, Ronaldo whipped a super-smooth cross that any Real player could’ve easily picked up. Yet, there wasn’t a single player from Los Blancos properly positioned in the box. It was as if they were all waiting for somebody else to get in and score it himself.
Benzema, despite playing very well today, is one to blame for such a chance wasted, as he is the team’s striker after all. Just because Ronaldo gets the lion’s share of goals every season, doesn’t mean Benzema has no obligation to score when Ronaldo isn’t in the box waiting for a chance to pounce.
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Other players to blame are James and to a much lesser extent Sergio Ramos, Casemiro, and Toni Kroos. Of course it would be insensible to ask for all those players to be in the box at the same time just because of a cross but still, there should’ve been 2-3 players waiting for it.
Ronaldo using his skill set in aspects other than running and scoring can be a lethal weapon to the team. That is true when taking into consideration that Ronaldo’s individual danger forces opposing defenses to concentrate on him more than any other player. This in return lifts the pressure off the rest of Madrid’s players, usually giving them easier chances to score themselves.
Ronaldo needs more support from his teammates to help the team in ways other than scoring.
3 – What Carlo Ancelotti saw in James Rodriguez and Angel Di Maria became very obvious today:
Long gone are the days when Ronaldo’s norm was to track back. With that in mind, Carlo Ancelotti used both Angel Di Maria and James Rodriguez as left wingers (partially at least) during his time in Madrid. Today it became very obvious that this tactic has very crucial benefits to the team.
Ronaldo needs to get into the box frequently to get more chances to score. Ancelotti’s tactic allowed Ronaldo to get into the middle without leaving one wing literally empty. This prevented the opposition’s defensive line from keeping its width in check. As a result, it also obscured the opposition from overloading their box to snuff out spaces or gain superiority in attacks, especially crosses.
Currently, when the team tries to stretch defenses, when Ronaldo gets into the middle, Marcelo does the left wing work load all on his own. The problem behind this is that throughout the match, Marcelo becomes exhausted and doesn’t track back properly. Not to mention that Marcelo is primarily problematic when tracking back.
Ancelotti fixed this problem with a left winger, who shifted to the middle, with a midfielder covering for Marcelo, who advanced to the left wing to keep the opposition stretched. Otherwise that winger exploited the left flank on his own, with Marcelo not needed to advance so high up the pitch. In both cases Ronaldo still moves to the middle without any problems.
Today it was very obvious that Marcelo needed cover in Callejon’s goal which was correctly ruled offside. Zidane needs to find a solution to this problem sooner than later to that problem. As it could become the ultimate recipe for disaster in the matches to come.