Real Madrid took care of business against lower league side CD Numancia Thursday in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey round of 16 winning 3-0. Here are three takeaways from the win.
Gareth Bale looked good in his first start in three months
Playing 62 minutes and scoring a goal from the penalty spot, Gareth Bale looked solid in his first true appearance in the squad since suffering a leg injury back in September. While he didn’t create the same amount of scoring chances that he did in the FIFA Club World Cup or the last round of the Copa Del Rey, Bale was still very good.
He drew fouls, passed the ball well, and showed his world-class talent against an inferior team. One of the main concerns going into the match was Bale’s fitness level and his health.
He took a hard fall early in the first half challenging for a header in the box but popped right back to his feet with no signs of lingering injury.
The penalty he scored was expertly taken and dispatched into the corner of the net as he completely fooled the goalkeeper.
While he wasn’t as involved in the match as he could have been, it was a solid outing for Bale who is slowly but surely building his reputation back up with the Madrid fans.
This was a boring, boring match
This is incredibly rare for me to call a Real Madrid match boring, but I have to say, this was one of the most boring Real Madrid matches I have watched in several years.
If you didn’t watch the match, here is a stat which sums up the extent of the match. The only shot on goal in the first half was Bale’s penalty he converted in the 35th minute. That was only shot from either team in the first 45 minutes.
A win is a win don’t get me wrong. But my goodness this was slow, slow match.
Real Madrid’s starting XI hadn’t played together almost ever so the chemistry might not have been there, but still. There was no cohesion between the lines, the passing was poor, the players struggled to retain possession without making a mistake, and they simply couldn’t get shots in the final third.
CD Numancia was even worse than I expected. Fuenlabrada played much better in the second leg of the round of 32 in the Santiago Bernabéu then Numancia did at home in the first leg of this round.
If you didn’t watch the match, I wouldn’t recommend going back and rewatching because there is truly nothing to see.
Zinedine Zidane picked a good squad for this match
As I have discussed in past articles, Zidane hasn’t been rotating his first team enough or correctly. In this match, he did both very well.
Here is the squad Zizou rolled out:
📋 Here's tonight's starting XI to face @cdnumancia!#RMMovistar #RMCopa pic.twitter.com/nFCGIXSgRa
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) January 4, 2018
With the exceptions of Bale, Asensio, and Nacho, none of the starters in this match see regular playing time in the first team. Which is a good thing.
These are the types of matches Ronaldo, Ramos, Luka Modric, Marcelo, and Toni Kroos should not feature in and it’s a good they didn’t. When Real Madrid can afford to rest players, they have to. In order to win the Champions League yet again, and to attempt a comeback in the league, they need to give key players matches off.
The team has a short turnaround when they will face a solid Celta Vigo team, so it’s a good thing Zizou rotated in this match.
Next: Numancia 0 – 3 Real Madrid: Recap of Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey victory