Real Madrid: 3 takeaways from Los Blancos’ 5-2 win over Celta Vigo

Real Madrid’s defense needs to improve in a lot of ways

I think this has been a constant in my takeaways for this season. The defense simply hasn’t been good enough. There’s no other way around it. You need to be attentive at all times, you need to do everything right, or else, you will suffer. Real Madrid suffered in the few chances they gave away. They let Celta score two goals in the first half alone, both of which could’ve been easily prevented.

First one was just a mess all around. Miguel tried to pass the ball to Nacho when he was under pressure from Iago Aspas. Nacho couldn’t get to it in time because the pass was too slow. This forced Casemiro to get involved and somehow prevent the chance from being created. But, not only did he fail to do that, but he also left his man free. The man was Santi Mina, who scored the goal a few seconds later. It was a very chaotic goal, one that could’ve been prevented.

The second goal was because of the space left behind by both Miguel and Nacho. Miguel was getting back to the defensive third, but then Nacho decided to go towards the ball carrier to force him into turning over possession. Instead, he left a huge chunk of space for Celta Vigo, and they made the best use of it. It was not fun watching these two goals going in.

Alaba’s return will help in that regard, but the issue is also with Real’s pressing. It was great for the majority of the game. But there were a few instances where it just didn’t make much sense. For example, in the second goal as I explained above. There were some sequences that showed that it was a flawed press. Sometimes they do it too much, sometimes not enough. The balance is key, and it’s the difference between teams that press well and teams that don’t.

There were also a bunch of really careless giveaways. For example, in the first half, Carvajal — who had a decent game overall — just gave away the ball carelessly, trying to pass it to Nacho from the midfield with his weak foot. There were many Celta players surrounding him, and it just didn’t make sense for him to do that. He also made a couple of weird passes through the flanks, that went out for throw ins. Little things like this matter, and sometimes you win or lose games over it.

The result overall was great, and hopefully the team keeps on improving. There’s no time to waste; they face Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday.