Real Madrid kicked off their La Liga title defence with a 3-0 win away to Deportivo. From Benzema and Bale to Ramos madness, there were plenty of takeaways from this game. Here are the three big ones:
An Efficient Display
After Real Madrid’s glimmering performance against Barcelona, it would have been easy to expect Los Blancos to play in a similar fashion against an improved, but, still rather average Deportivo team. Instead, Madridistas were treated to an efficient display from the All Whites in a game that they didn’t dominate but deserved to win.
There were 44 passes in the build-up for Casemiro's goal, the most before a goal in La Liga since at least 2006/07. [@OptaJose] pic.twitter.com/QLx4T3fNXZ
— Infinite Madrid (@InfiniteMadrid) August 20, 2017
To their credit, the hosts did put on a good display and challenged the back four, with Keylor Navas being called in for a few heroic saves and a fantastic penalty save in the dying minutes of the game. Zidane will hope for more performances like these, knowing full well that fancy flicks won’t win him another La Liga crown.