Trying to choose Real Madrid’s Man of the Match after a woeful loss to PSG
By Ben Sundock
Real Madrid looked pathetic Wednesday night in their Champions League opener at PSG as they fell 3-0. Who was the Man of the Match for Los Blancos in this lackluster showing?
Absolutely embarrassing.
There is simply no other way to describe Real Madrid’s showing against PSG on Wednesday. Did the team make the flight to Paris? Because it seems like there were only a couple players who made an impact in this otherwise dumpster fire of a match.
My two candidates for Real’s Man of the Match are either Gareth Bale or Eden Hazard.
Other than that, no one played well. According to WhoScored, Real Madrid did not have a player rated over 7.0 appear tonight. In contrast, the home side had six players well over the 7.0 rating with former Madrid man Angel Di Maria registering a 9.0 in an impressive two goal showing.
The reasons I am considering Bale and Hazard are simple: they both looked threatening going forward and actually made the Paris defense track back and worry about defending their own box.
Gareth Bale has quickly gone from outcast to offensive workhorse with the way the season has started. The Welsh international came within inches of tying the match at one in the first half with a bending free-kick that just clipped the top netting.
It also looked like the number 11 had scored just before the half with a nice little lob over former teammate Keylor Navas, however, after a look at VAR, it was deemed a handball on Bale seconds before the shots.
Bale looked energetic pushing down the right wing and made Jan Bernat’s day very difficult with the way in which he played tightly with James Rodriguez and Dani Carvajal.
The winger’s three shots led the team in the Parc des Princes and is a worrying sign considering the talent that was brought in during the summer transfer window.
Hazard had a few moments of brilliance in the second half, but all in all was held in check by Idrissa Gana Gueye and Thomas Meunier. He managed just one shot throughout the contest but showed glimpses of his incredible work rate and good one-two passes with overlapping teammates.
dark. Next. Could Real Madrid use Toni Kroos to get Paul Pogba?
This may only be one match and mean little in the grand scheme of the season, but if Real Madrid truly wants to compete with the likes of FC Barcelona and a revamped Atletico Madrid side – who Los Blancos will face this weekend on the road – this season, this performance is far from what we as fans want to see or expected.
With injuries occurring seemingly every match, the pressure is really on manager Zinedine Zidane to figure out his tactics and use his many star players in a meaningful way.
Real Madrid can no longer rely on Cristiano Ronaldo to bail them out of situations in big matches. Bale did his best to step up today like he did against Villarreal, but it simply wasn’t enough against a stout PSG back line.