Real Madrid may have given themselves a scare on Saturday through a few defensive miscues, but, by and large, they dominated their Matchday 8 contest against Granada.
Despite their failures in the Champions League this campaign, Real Madrid have to feel enthusiastic with how they have played in La Liga thus far in Zinedine Zidane’s second stint as manager. Madrid followed up their three straight clean sheets in league play to close September by defeating Granada 4-2, imposing their will upon a team that came into Matchday 8 as the second-place club in La Liga.
Real Madrid won this game through controlling possession and starting counterattacks from their pressing game, which has been a huge part of their recent success under Zidane in La Liga. Although this game was close in the second half until James Rodriguez scored in stoppage time, Real thoroughly deserved all three points and did indeed look like an undefeated team topping the league table.
Let’s take a closer look at five statistics that illustrate either how good Real were as a whole in this 4-2 win over Granada, or they serve to highlight the individual performances of key players. The focus should be on young players like Alvaro Odriozola and Fede Valverde, who had a breakout performance in a White kit.