Real Madrid played out an entertaining game against Celta Vigo recording their biggest league win of the season. Here are three takeaways from the game.
Achraf reminds us to be patient
The mid-week loss to Sevilla put a real dampener on the excitement buzzing around Real Madrid’s youngsters this season. Jesús Vallejo and Dani Ceballos were among the most criticized following the 3-2 defeat, with some even going as far to say that the two young Spaniards weren’t Real Madrid quality.
Enter stage left, Achraf Hakimi. The young right-back has also had his fair share of criticism this season, however, he has bounced back of late and put in perhaps his best showing of the season on Saturday, scoring a fantastic goal to cap off a wonderful all-around performance.
The young full-back is among the rawest talents Madrid has and to see how far he has come this season in limited playing time should not only remind Madridistas of why Zidane rated the Moroccan highly enough to promote him this season, but also remind us to be patient with all Madrid’s youngsters.
Social media has cursed us with a lot of accounts dedicated to hyping up young players. Reality is that not every player develops the same way in regular circumstances. Achraf’s season and that of his teammates has been anything but normal.
All of Madrid’s youngsters have been deprived of game time this season and are often thrown into difficult away games like against Sevilla, out of practice, and confidence. Due to these circumstances, we should reel in our expectations, whether they be high or low.
Gareth Bale is still good
This game was billed as Gareth Bale’s last home game for Real Madrid. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I hope Zidane and president Florentino Perez reconsider after this performance. Bale has been deceptively good this season with the game time he has had.
The Welsh winger has played most of this season out of position and yet has still been able to tally 16 league goals in just 19 games, most of those scored in the second half of the season.
Bale hasn’t been perfect this season, he wouldn’t be sitting on the bench if he was, but he has displayed enough quality to warrant a run of games towards the season or least earn himself another chance at Madrid next season.
Next: Real Madrid vs. Celta Vigo: Quick reaction to Madrid’s win
One more game
There is just one more dress rehearsal before the big finale against Liverpool in Kiev. It was both surprising and encouraging to see this lineup perform so impressively, especially considering many of the players who played today will likely start in Kiev.
An away match against Villarreal won’t be easy, even if the Yellow Submarine have already secured European football for next season. It will be interesting to see how Zidane selects his lineup for the final league game of the season.
One way or another, it would be nice to finish what has been a horrific domestic campaign with a win and continue this good momentum heading to Kiev.