Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from a 1-3 win over Eibar

Could Real Madrid have done better defensively?

Fullbacks Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal were as brilliant as ever, supporting the attack and providing loads of hard work defensively. And Sergio Ramos had two goal-saving interventions to ensure Real Madrid would not blow the game in the end. Mendy himself had a goal-stopping tackle, too.

However, Los Blancos had some sketchy moments defensively, which nearly let Eibar back into the game. Blaming anyone for Kike Garcia’s goal would be cruel, because the curler from beyond the box might end up being the best strike of the 2020-2021 La Liga campaign. You just don’t stop those.

You can, however, avoid making horrible square passes across your own penalty box into no man’s land, which is exactly what Sergio Ramos did for his second egregious error of the week. Ramos more than made up for it with his two other plays, but Real Madrid’s biggest problem defensively can be seen in that pass by Ramos; they tend to be the ones to “beat” themselves with mistakes.

Raphael Varane has been brilliant this month and one of the league’s top center backs, but he did not look himself in this game. And that’s a problem, since Real absolutely need him to be world-class. Let’s see how he and Ramos respond against Granada.