The 3 most important things Real Madrid learned in 2021
By Sudhir Salvi
Real Madrid began 2022 with a 1-0 defeat to Getafe. To put things into perspective, they had lost only two leagues games in 2021 which taught some key lessons.
The last year was thankfully a bit more unflappable in Spain as football games were not postponed or canceled owing to the coronavirus, as has happened in England in the not too recent past. Real Madrid, though, were met with innumerable adversities as they had to battle untenable aberrations in coronavirus cases and injuries.
While 2021 yielded no trophy despite the Whites coming agonizingly close in both La Liga and Champions League. They did finish the year as winter champions of the country and are the favourites to win the championship at the end of the season.
What were the three biggest takeaways from the previous 12 months for Madrid?
REAL MADRID ARE EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE TACTICALLY
Real Madrid had two coaches through 2021, Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti, whose ideologies were starkly opposite. While the Frenchman based his game on a low defensive block owing to a lack of goal-scoring options, his Italian successor has chosen to bring back a flamboyant attacking game with renewed lives for several offensive players in the team.
Under Zidane, Madrid boasted one of the best defensive records around Europe for a couple of years and more, whereas under Ancelotti, they are among the top scoring sides in Europe for 2021/22. With that said, the former Everton boss stamped his authority within two months of taking over in June without any significant signings or pre-season trips.
While such a revolution obviously goes on to show how good managers Zidane and Ancelotti are to get the best out of similar squads, it is also a testimony of the players’ quality for adapting to two systems from polar opposite ends of a spectrum. On top of that, Madrid have not been too bad defensively this year despite losing Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos, both, last summer.