Real Madrid: 5 takeaways from Los Blancos’ brilliant 5-0 win at Shakhtar
Real Madrid’s build-up play seemed so smooth and effortless
This was just so nice to watch, finally. This is like, a combination and result of all the points I mentioned in the previous slides. I haven’t seen Real play this smoothly in a long time. By that, I mean especially the second half, because there was so much off-ball movement in the second and it made things really tough for Shakhtar.
Of course, Shakhtar didn’t help themselves by defending terribly, but this game is all about taking advantage of the opponent’s weakness. Real Madrid did that perfectly. They moved players in and out of the box, we saw wingers cut inside whenever they saw an opportunity to, we saw Kroos and Modric press up high so that the ball stays with Real.
Most of this is also linked to Ancelotti finally letting go of all the experiments, and sticking with what works fine. As he got his preferred midfield back, he felt it was right to only go ahead with the 4-3-3 formation from now on, something he was vocal about in the press conference before the game. And, it worked. Kroos and Modric, as I said, didn’t have to do a lot of defensive work with Casemiro’s return to form and Mendy’s return from injury.
Next. Real Madrid can count on Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo Goes to meet the highest standard. dark
The centre-backs also played well and progressed the ball up the pitch very nicely. It all just seems like good football for now, and we hope to see more of it, and we hope it keeps improving, obviously. Real clearly need a bunch of good results, and this could be the start of that streak. The next game is very important, and we shall see if this was more about Shakhtar being bad, or more about Real Madrid looking like Real Madrid.