Real Madrid vs. Sevilla: 5 takeaways from a painful 2-2 draw

Real Madrid dropped more points in the La Liga title race on Sunday night, but they did not lose. It looked as if they were headed for zero points in their own house against Sevilla, but Eden Hazard deflected in Toni Kroos’ late shot for a 2-2 equalizer. And Real nearly scored a miracle goal just a minute later via Casemiro, but the shot was just inches wide.

Los Blancos are down but not out after this missed opportunity. They fought until the end and will keep on fighting.

Here are five takeaways from their latest setback in the title race.

Vinicius Junior’s finishing woes strike again

Vinicius Junior did his best to help the team, but, once again, the young man was not nearly effective enough in the final third. Madridistas are probably still fuming at his latest point-blank miss. Luka Modric scooped the ball brilliantly for fellow superstar midfielder Toni Kroos, who diverted the ball into Vinicius’ path right in front of goal.

And once again, all Vini could do was trip over the ball. The entire goal was begging at his mercy, but the Brazilian could not convert within the six-yard box.

He wasn’t the only one who struggled. Fede Valverde offered nothing on the right side before eventual goal-scorer Marco Asensio entered the match. But at least Valverde can say he was in a more defensive role. Vini was “the guy” on the left-hand side, and aside from one simple pass to Karim Benzema that could have led to a penalty, his end product was disappointing again.

But as a whole, I would not say he was horrible or exaggerate. Yes, he made a couple of bad plays in front of goal and was too slow to pass. Yet he still made things happen and caused problems in a half in which Real, as a whole, were slow to the punch outside of Benzema. I will say that at Real Madrid, this positivity is not enough. At a certain point, you do have to finish.