Sporting Gijón 2 – 3 Real Madrid: Three Takeaways from the La Liga Match

Real Madrid’s squad players eked past Sporting de Gijón with 3 crucial La Liga points on the back of a last ditch Isco winner. Alex McVey takes a look at this breathtaking match with three key takeaways.

Isco! Isco! Isco!

The bandy-legged, bearded beauty named Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez, or Isco for short, put Real Madrid on his tiny Spanish back today and dragged them across the finish line with all three points.

Isco was everywhere on the pitch today. He was hands down the man of the match, and is demonstrating that priority number one this summer should be extending his contract.

Given that Real Madrid were missing the majority of their usual offensive contributors in the BBC, and their midfield presence in Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić, and Casemiro, Isco was called upon to fill both gaps.

He fluidly connected the midfield to the attack, dribbling past Sporting’s defenders in a, dare I say it, Messi-esque fashion.

His ability to stay calm under pressure, to win the ball even if he has to drop to the ground to do so, to dribble his way out of any situation, to catch balls out of the air with ease, and his seamless ambidexterity make him a puzzle wrapped in an enigma for defenders to try and deal with.

Performances like these are why fans have begun to sing Isco’s name, not just at the Bernabéu, but also at away grounds.

It’s why he’s the object of transfer speculation so intense that people are willing to psychoanalyze him on the basis of his chip purchases to glean a sense of where he’ll be playing next. It’s why Zidane will continue to get criticized for not giving him enough minutes, even as he’s become Zizou’s first man off the bench.

The fact that Isco is Madrid’s #1 super-sub is an amazing luxury. It’s a sign of the important squad depth that Zidane has at his disposal. Isco is truly a magical player, and this performance is likely to have cemented his place in Zidane’s plans for next season.

Zidane’s Gamble Pays Off… Barely…

Zinedine Zidane made a huge gamble this match, leaving the entirety of the BBC, Keylor Navas, and Dani Carvajal at home. Additionally, Kroos, Modrić, and Marcelo were all left on the bench.

Just a week after Luis Enrique’s overly zealous rotation policy may have cost Barca three crucial points in the title race, Zidane decided to go all out with rotations, keeping his powder dry for the upcoming matches against Bayern and Barca.

Zidane didn’t just rotate a few players here and there, he rotated nearly everyone.  The only true member of Zidane’s once de gala that was on the pitch at the start of the match was Sergio Ramos. Nacho will likely also be a starter for the upcoming clashes, but that is only because of Madrid’s ongoing injury crisis at the back.

And for a while, it looked like that gamble was going to cost Madrid dearly, giving Barcelona the opportunity to erase Madrid’s cushion ahead of El Clásico.

Mateo Kovačić and Nacho were out of sorts for the first goal, failing to communicate who was covering the onrushing Duje Cop. Mikel Vesga’s pass was slick and unpredictable, but Nacho and Kovačić should have done more to make Cop’s life harder.

Isco proved to be a handful for Sporting, as he equalized quickly after. But by and large, Madrid’s bench forwards didn’t do a great job on the front foot. James looked a bit flat, and Vázquez put in a now characteristic performance of high-energy, high-pace football with little end product.

As the xG plot below shows, Sporting was mostly content to sit back, until they found a second goal through an outrageously unlikely header by Vesga. This goal came down to a combination of bad marking on Madrid’s part, incredible skill by Vesga to find the back corner over Kiko Casilla’s head, and freak luck that the ball arched the way it did without going over or out.

Also visible from this data: the introduction of Marcelo in the 57^th minute really changed the game. Marcelo kick-started Madrid’s attack, as the Royal Whites launched a barrage of shots on Sporting’s goal for the final 30 minutes of the match.

Danilo found Morata’s head wonderfully for the second goal at the hour mark, giving Madrid plenty of time to hunt for the winner.

Isco put the icing on the cake by snatching 3 points at the death, just when it looked like Zidane’s gamble was going to blow up in his face.

The “Zidane is so lucky” crowd might say that had Isco not slotted away that extraordinarily difficult shot, Zidane would be looking like a fool right now.

I, however, would like to think that Zidane has proven there is a method to his madness. His rotation policy has meant that he has a squad of players who can interchange seamlessly. He has also shown that even if Isco doesn’t fit into his plans for an once de gala, he does trust Isco to carry the team on his back when a crucial 3 points are on the line.

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Madrid’s ultimate scoreline wasn’t just luck. Real outperformed Sporting by a full 1.05 xG. Having a well-rested, well-rotated squad, for the remainder of our April death march, and still picking up three points, I think Zidane comes out of this looking like a wicked genius whose gamble paid off big, even if it almost didn’t.

Is the Full-Back Depth Problem at Madrid Overblown?

One of the questionable elements of Madrid’s squad depth is the full-back position. While Madrid have two of the best full-backs in the world in Dani Carvajal and Marcelo, their replacements on the bench don’t share their star qualities.

Although Fabio Coentrao has previously proven a competent substitute for Marcelo on the left (like when his focused performance against Bayern in the semifinals of the Champions League in 2014 lead ESPN FC to call him “‘Big Game’ Fabio Coentrao.”), he has barely been used by Zidane, making only 4 appearances across all competitions, according to Whoscored. Indeed, he’s been so out of form and plagued by injuries, that he himself admitted he wasn’t fit to play for the club.

Similarly, Danilo has had a less than convincing season. Goal.com speculates  that Danilo might be the worst Real Madrid signing of all time, backing it up with all sorts of interesting statistics, like:

"Zinedine Zidane’s side have won just seven of their 13 matches with Danilo in the team in 2016-17, a win percentage of just 53.8%. Without the Brazilian, meanwhile, Los Blancos have triumphed in 15 of their 20 games this term – a success rate of 75%."

Indeed, his terrible performances this season included scoring two own goals in two weeks, a hapless feat which helped knock Madrid out of the Copa Del Rey. He’s been so bad that many, including The Real Champ’s own Ben Sundock, have called for his transfer out of the club.

It’s no wonder, then, that many balked at the idea of playing both Coentrao and Danilo in a must-win match in the La Liga title race. Yet the back-up full-backs didn’t disappoint. Coentrao was not particularly stunning going forward, and misplaced a number of crosses.

But nevertheless, he didn’t make any glaring errors and seemed competent and composed. You could not tell that he had barely played any minutes for Madrid this season.

Danilo also put in a strong 90 minutes, demonstrating signs of why he was originally brought in for a substantial sum from Porto. His assist for Morata’s goal was delivered with pinpoint accuracy. He made 4 key passes, 5 tackles, and 2 interceptions, according to WhoScored. Not bad for “worst transfer ever” material.

It would probably still be good for Real Madrid to go out and sign a stronger full-back replacement. But there were signs of life from Marcelo and Carvajal’s deputies today, signs that are sure to be welcome by Zidane as Madrid continue to fight across two competitions.