Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from a dream win over Gladbach

1. Why can’t Real Madrid play like this more often?

It’s amazing that Real Madrid turned up the heat in such an important contest, as Madridistas were nervous about the prospect of having to play in the Europa League. That would have been both unknown and, quite frankly, embarrassing territory for this club, because the standards at Madrid are such that a deep run in the Champions League is the expectation. Those expectations may need to be tempered for now, but, even so, not getting out of the group stages would have been catastrophic.

But amidst the jubilation, in the back of our minds, we cannot help but wonder why Los Blancos haven’t been capable of producing a performance like this in other matches. Where was this display, for example, against Deportivo Alaves? Or either match at Shakhtar Donetsk? If Real are this much better than Borussia Monchengladbach, then why did they fall 2-0 to the Foals in the fixture at the Borussia-Park?

We often talk about managers using poor games as “teaching moments” to their squads so that they can learn from their mistakes, but I wonder if Zinedine Zidane can use this huge win over Gladbach as more than just a confidence-booster for El Derbi. I wonder if he can use the positive emotions to reenforce the play we saw on the pitch and use this match as a blueprint for his gameplan for the rest of the season.

Real Madrid were at their absolute finest in terms of playing as a cohesive unit and progressing the ball into dangerous areas, which has not been the case for much of the 2020-2021 season. Maybe this match can be the springboard to higher-quality play.