The Real Champs
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Real Madrid 2 – 1 Valencia: 3 Takeaways from the La Liga Match

By Alex McVey

MADRID, SPAIN - APRIL 29: Marcelo Vieira of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring during the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Valencia CF at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 29, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - APRIL 29: Marcelo Vieira of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring during the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Valencia CF at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 29, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Pedro Castillo/Real Madrid via Getty Images) /
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Madrid Leaves it til Late, Again.

MADRID, SPAIN – APRIL 29: Head coach Zinedine Zidane of Real Madrid CF dries his face with a towel at the bench prior to start the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 29, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN – APRIL 29: Head coach Zinedine Zidane of Real Madrid CF dries his face with a towel at the bench prior to start the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Valencia CF at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on April 29, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images) /

Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid often fail to convince, even as they continue to churn out victories. They have a hard time keeping clean sheets, and the offensive plan seems more like hammering the opposing goal with a battering ram of crosses than cutting them apart with a surgeon’s knife of precise passing through the middle.

Yet one impressive feature of Zidane’s Madrid is its ability to find an extra gear in the closing minutes of the match when they are hunting points. Madrid has now scored 21 goals in the last 10 minutes of matches this season, which, as Squawka reports, is more than any other team in Europe’s top 5 leagues.

These aren’t throwaway goals, either. Far from running up the score on oppositions, the goals Real have scored in the last ten minutes of the match have saved them a total of 17 points in the league, according to Mister Chip:

I wrote following our defeat to Barcelona about how the winning mentality Zidane has implanted into the squad may have backfired when a 10-man Madrid pressed so high up the pitch that they conceded in the dying minutes of El Clásico.

The Valencia match should be a good reminder that it’s important to take the good with the bad. Even if the never-say-die attitude may have cost us points against Barca, Madrid’s ability to fight back to victory has saved us a number of times this season. It would be nice to not have our nerves frayed on weekly basis, but three points are three points, no matter how they’re won.

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