Real Madrid certainly has the talent, but do they have the goalscorers?
By Ben Sundock
Real Madrid‘s first game of the season went better than many predicted, however, the defending Champions League winners still fell to Manchester United 2-1. After dominating the possession throughout the match, many were left wondering, does this team have a go-to goalscorer?
The passing was good, the possession was good, but the finishing was less than satisfactory. As Los Blancos tried to shake off some rust in their first preseason match of the 2018/2019 season, there was one missing piece that seemed to affect the entire flow of the game.
No player in the squad could get a shot on target!
Karim Benzema, expected to perform much better than he did a year ago in front of goal, bumbled around when he had the ball on the edge of the box or in the box. In the first half, he missed a point-blank chance.
Gareth Bale, another guy expected to be the man to pick up where Cristiano left off scoring-wise, made some good moves passing and moving on the wings, but only threatened David De Gea once with a shot that sailed over the crossbar.
Vinícius Júnior, in his first appearance with Real Madrid, showed no signs of being intimidated by the big stage or shying away from receiving the ball. But, he never went to take a shot on goal. His dribbling was at times world-class and his passing vision was spectacular, however, if he is supposed to be Ronaldo’s replacement on the left-wing, he is going to have to score goals.
So, does new manager Julen Lopetegui have a problem on his hands with the team’s inability to get shots on target in their first match of this season? I wouldn’t hit the panic button just yet.
Of course this team is going to struggle to score goals at a wicked pace. CR7 is one of the greatest players in world football history. To expect one player from this team to suddenly be producing like him is just unrealistic.
More from The Real Champs
- Manchester City hold talks over Real Madrid target
- Real Madrid player confirms he is playing with a fracture
- Real Madrid superstar rejected Premier League clubs confirmed
- Spaniard ready to join Real Madrid instead of Liverpool
- PSG want €100 million Real Madrid player to replace Kylian Mbappe
Another point that many fans are ignoring is that the players who started and played the majority of the match in Miami on Tuesday will not be the starters this season. Isco, Marco Asensio, Toni Kroos, and Lucas Vazquez were left on the bench and three of the four made an appearance but not until the final 10 minutes of the 90.
While it is newsworthy to point out that Bale and Benzema looked a little off in front of goal, there shouldn’t be an uproar in the Spanish capital until the La Liga season gets underway in a few weeks. Lopetegui is still trying to figure out how he wants to structure his team and find a reliable guy to start as the striker.
While many would like to go ahead and pencil Benzema’s name into that starting role, Julen has made it clear that he and his coaching staff will be evaluating the talent at their disposal to determine who should start in the number nine position. The match against United was the first of five trial matches that will give the staff plenty of time to analyze their best option.
Real Madrid: Is Luka Modric moving to Inter Milan?. dark. Next
So until then, we will have to wait and see what the next steps will be.