Well, that wasn’t the result I wanted to see. Real Madrid fell 1-0 to Real Betis at home, making it zero wins in three home matches to start the season. Let’s look at the three takeaways from the match.
Zinedine Zidane has a problem on his hands
As the sun rises Thursday, Real Madrid will see themselves in 7th place in the league. This, of course, is a shockingly horrible start to the league campaign after winning both the UEFA Super Cup over Manchester United in early August and the Spanish Super Cup over FC Barcelona.
Plain and simple, manager Zidane has a problem on his hands in just five matches. You may be saying, what is the problem with Real Madrid right now? That’s the problem.
That’s the problem. I’m not sure and I think Zidane isn’t sure either.
Just three days ago in San Sebastian, Real looked calm and dominant over a Real Sociedad team that had won three matches in a row in the league. However, today against a Real Betis side that had yet to play well on the road came into the Santiago Bernabéu and pulled out a late winner.
It was good to have Ronaldo back, yes, but the man who usually thrives in these types of matches looked off all night.
Zinedine Zidane was an absolute disaster tonight.
— Lucas Navarrete (@LucasNavarreteM) September 20, 2017
I think one of the main problems for Madrid has been not having CR7 in the squad for these first games. Plus, with no Karim Benzema, Real Madrid resorted to starting Ronaldo and Gareth Bale as the two center forwards.
Zidane has been masterful when managing this team in the past almost two years, he might have his toughest challenge yet at the beginning of this season.