Real Madrid kicked their 2021-22 season off with a 4-1 win over Alaves at the Mendizorroza. Two goals from Karim Benzema, and one each from Vinicius Jr and Nacho Fernandez sealed the deal for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid looked a little nervy during the game, especially in the first half, where Alaves were pressing really well and Los Blancos were having problems in escaping it.
As the game went on, though, they started to get more and more comfortable. After the first goal, things looked a lot better for Real Madrid, as Alaves became very sloppy defensively, giving up easy duels, leaving behind a lot of space in the defense.
David Alaba also made his official debut with Real Madrid. He played really well, and it just didn’t seem like he was making his debut. He fit like a glove to the hand. The Austrian also registered an assist, which was great to see.
This performance, while not perfect, was, to an extent, something we’re going to see more of as the season progresses. We won’t exactly see four goals in every single game, but offensive schemes were planned out very well and I think it’ll only get better from here. There were things that could’ve been a lot better, but it’s just the first game, you know?
A lot more of that, and I might actually be proven wrong. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
Now, without further adieu, Let’s get started with the takeaways.
Karim Benzema is just too good
Ladies and gentlemen, Karim Benzema is back. He didn’t need pre-season to get back into the swing of things. The Frenchman just picked up where he left off last season. He scored two goals, including Real Madrid’s first of the season.
He was doing usual Benzema stuff, apart from one thing, which he did a bit more than last season. It wasn’t that noticeable because he’s used to playing this way, but Benzema was seen drifting to the left more than usual. He kept switching positions with Hazard, and it was something that didn’t happen as often simply because Hazard didn’t play that often.
It wasn’t just him, though. The frontline kept switching up. Sometimes we saw Hazard on the right, and Bale on the left, sometimes it was Hazard playing a central role. It was good to see so much off-ball movement from Real Madrid’s forwards.
Benzema just keeps giving us reasons to believe he’s a top-three striker in the world with one world-class performance after the other. He’s going to be very, very important this season. Real Madrid haven’t signed any forward, so most of the burden to carry the attack will fall on him once again, even with Gareth Bale in the squad. Real Madrid’s attack is in good hands if this is the way Benzema is going to perform.
Benzema has scored at least 30% of Real Madrid’s goals in each of the last three seasons, and the trend will continue, it seems.
Real Madrid looked much, much better in the second half
The first half of Real Madrid’s first game of the season was a bit dull, if you ask me. There was some pretty good off-ball movement, but other than that, there were issues all over the pitch.
Real Madrid were struggling. They couldn’t deal with Alaves’ press. Los Blancos were too slow in building out from the back which gave Alaves opportunities to push high up the pitch. That forced Real’s defenders to launch long balls into Alaves’ half, which resulted in a turning over of possession. It lessened towards the end of the first half, but it was still there.
Real Madrid didn’t look comfortable. Even Luka Modric — one of the team’s best performers — found it tough to make something happen at times because it all seemed so chaotic.
Once the second half started, and Real Madrid scored their opening goal, everything seemed to work just fine. Ancelotti changed a couple of things, and Alaves started to look more vulnerable as the match went on. Modric had a great second half, as did Valverde, and many other players.
Hazard was more effective (he registered an assist for Benzema’s first of the night), dealing with the press got a little easier too. It still was a little clumsy, and there were a couple of players that didn’t perform well in either half, but we’ll get to that.
All in all, it was a great second-half performance from the team, and they’ll surely look to correct the things they got wrong in the first half as the season progresses.
Faults that must be fixed sooner rather than later
As good as this win felt, there were some things that made it a little less enjoyable. It was not a perfect win, it was far from it, and some of those imperfections may not have mattered against Alaves, but those things need to improve in the long run if Real Madrid want to challenge on all fronts. Those things can end up being decisive against better opposition, or if Real Madrid aren’t as lucky as they were this time around.
For example, there were a few things that were off in the first half, as I mentioned. Other than that, two players out of the 11 that started were far from their best.
Lucas Vazquez didn’t have a great game, in my opinion. He was found out of position many times, and there were many situations involving him that could’ve turned out to be game-changing moments, had Alaves taken those chances. He faced difficulty in transition defense. He didn’t track his man’s runs whenever the ball was crossed into the box. It was just basic full-back stuff that he wasn’t able to pull off because well, he’s not a natural full-back.
Vazquez can and will do better, though. We’ve seen him play much better and he will improve.
Another player was Eder Militao, who didn’t look comfortable with the ball. There was obviously the error that led to the penalty, but other than that he just wasn’t able to handle the press from Alaves all that great. The Brazilian also made a few uncharacteristic mistakes, and his chemistry with Vazquez wasn’t great.
Real Madrid have faith in Militao. The Brazilian will have to return it if he wants to keep his place in the starting XI, which is something he should do in the upcoming games. As I said, I’m not that worried, he should be alright, but if things like this happen in a more difficult game, he will have to face the consequences
One more thing I noticed is that the pressing, in general, was OK, but in some sequences, it was either too little or too much as it allowed Alaves to break into Real Madrid’s half in numbers. There was a sequence in the first half where both Alaba and Nacho committed to the press, but Alaves played through it, which left a huge gap in the defense for Casemiro and Nacho to cover all by themselves.
Little things like this will need some polishing, and I’m certain that it’ll happen since it’s only the start of the season. The most important thing was that Real Madrid win their first game and they did just that, in an emphatic fashion.