Real Madrid: 4 takeaways from a 0-0 second leg draw with Liverpool

Real Madrid survived, and that’s what matters

Any Madridista will tell you that they noticed something very different about their players this Wednesday night. Toni Kroos was misplacing passes. Luka Modric was looking a little slow to the punch. Casemiro was making lazy challenges.

Real Madrid were tired. Their best players weren’t quite off to the races, and it was a reminder that these Galactic stars are indeed human. This has been a grueling season, and Real were coming off matches against Liverpool and Barcelona. So it was only natural, then, that the players showed great signs of fatigue in the second leg.

Yet Real did not make any excuses, nor did they falter. Maybe they wavered. But they did not break against the Reds, as exhausted as they were.

Real just needed to scrape by. They found a way. There is so much resiliency in this team. At Real Madrid, the standard is so high that even when tired, the players are still expected to perform. In this game, the way to perform was to survive. Real did exactly that, and they are ready for Chelsea in the semifinals now. Every week, I am thoroughly impressed by how much this team fights, and they were inspirational again in the Champions League. They can win it all.