Real Madrid are no match for their rivals
It’s remarkable how good Zinedine Zidane is at managing in the big games. It’s something my colleague Nithanth Ravindran wrote about in January after Real’s Spanish Supercup triumph over Atletico Madrid.
That trophy-securing victory wasn’t the only time Zidane led Real to a victory over Atletico Madrid in the second half of the season, as Los Merengues also won the following Derbi over Atleti at the Santiago Bernabeu to begin February.
In total, Real shut out Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona five times in 2019-2020. After goalless draws to Atleti and Barcelona on the road in the first half of the season, Zidane’s side kept clean sheets against them and improved offensively to defeat them three times in the second half.
In head-to-head competition with Barcelona and Atleti, Real Madrid thoroughly outclassed their two biggest rivals. These two rivalry matchups are the biggest in Europe, but Real made it seem like they were in a different stratosphere of competition by outplaying Atleti and Barça every time they faced off.
We’ll see if Zidane can continue this trend in 2020-2021, and based on Barcelona’s recent board issues, it looks like Los Merengues can do exactly that by making the right summer signings.