Real Madrid: The 3 biggest keys to winning La Liga in 2020-21

Real Madrid must be more consistent defensively

So far this season, Real Madrid have been mediocre defensively, which is really surprising. Some of that is down to injuries, as Dani Carvajal missed time at right back. Sergio Ramos also had an injury, and there were times when Zinedine Zidane started Marcelo over Ferland Mendy on the left to the detriment of the team.

According to FBRef.com, Real Madrid are fourth in the league in goals allowed per 90 minutes and 10th in xG allowed per 90. That’s not good enough. For a lot of other teams, fourth in defense sounds great. But for Los Blancos, fourth in anything is failure.

Even in the most recent clean sheet win over Granada, Real Madrid were extremely fortunate to have walked away unscathed defensively. Raphael Varane gifted Antonio Puertas and Granada with a glorious chance within minutes of the opening whistle, and Real looked shaky at times the previous week against Eibar.

Consistency is the key to a great defense, and Los Blancos don’t have that quite yet. They will bring their best to the table in the second half of the season, but it is important for Zidane to make sure this defense is shutdown week in and week out.