Real Madrid played their second game against Elche within the space of 70 hours, and they didn’t find it easy this time either. They drew the game 2-2 thanks to a late equalizer from Eder Militao, and one might think that Los Blancos could’ve won the game if they just had a slice of luck today.
The game started off on an emotional note for every Madridista in the stadium, as the crowd in the Bernabeu got to pay their tributes to one of the greatest Real Madrid legends ever, Paco Gento, who had passed away on 18th January. But on a whole, it was truly an entertaining game, and there can be a lot of takeaways from this game, including some positives and negatives.
Positive 1 – Real Madrid never give up, and neither does Vinicius
I’ve talked about this a lot of times in my recent works. Real Madrid isn’t about a specific footballing philosophy. Real Madrid is all about fighting it out on the pitch, until the final whistle, and about winning at any cost. Madridismo is about not giving up. And today, we got to see a Real Madrid team that simply didn’t give up, even when they were two goals behind and it was becoming increasingly difficult to score against a determined Elche side.
The whites fought like warriors on the pitch, and it took a calmly taken penalty from Luka Modric and a fantastic header from Eder Militao in the 92nd minute, to salvage a point for Real Madrid.
But the player, who embodied that fighting spirit of Real Madrid was the one and only Vinicius Jr. He was simply relentless on the pitch and kept running at the defenders until the final moment. Even in situations where there wasn’t any hope, he was able to create something out of almost nothing.
He got started in the first half itself and won a penalty for the team in the 32nd minute. It was missed by Karim Benzema and it might have demotivated the team a bit as Elche had opened the scoring just a few minutes after that. But Vinicius just didn’t give up. He almost scored in the second half but his shot missed the far post by a margin. After the 75th minute, he just hit the top gear and there was no stopping him, as he eventually assisted Militao’s late equalizer with a wonderful cross.
Players like Vinicius, who never say never, are the ones who can take this club to great heights with their talent and character.
Negative 1 – The defending from Real Madrid has been embarrassing
People often say that a good attack can win you games, but a good defence can win you titles. Real Madrid fans do know the importance of that statement as the club won its 34th LaLiga title in 2019/20 on the foundation of a solid defence. This season the club is currently leading the LaLiga title race, but the defence in a lot of games has been shambolic, and it only exposes a lot of Real Madrid’s weaknesses.
Real Madrid conceded two goals against a depleted Elche side today, and both the goals could have been easily avoided. A particular individual can’t be blamed for Elche’s goals, because it was a collective failure in defence. The positioning of every player was terrible in both the goals conceded and the way the team right flank was opened up by a single pass from Elche during the first goal shows a lot. And it has once again exposed the team’s troubles in dealing with crosses and the inability to maintain defensive discipline while going for a goal at the other end.
The tally of goals conceded in LaLiga this season has now increased to 20 in 22 games, and it is not a great sight. With a crucial fixture against PSG coming up next month, Ancelotti needs to sort out the defensive woes. The round of 16 fixture is expected to be an even one, but given the presence of PSG’s star attackers like Kylian Mbappe, Leo Messi and Neymar Jr., the team just can’t afford to show any form of cracks in defence.
Positive 2 – This is the Ferland Mendy every fan wants to see in attack
Ferland Mendy has been an extraordinary signing for Real Madrid, and he has quickly become a fan favourite due to his solid defending. Madridistas have often seen him as the world’s best defensive full-back, but not as the best left-back. The reason behind that is obvious, as Ferland Mendy isn’t a highly influential player in the final third.
But against Elche, it was a different Mendy altogether. He was fantastic in the attack and combined with Vinicius to create a lot of danger for Elche. Most of Real Madrid’s attacks go from the left, and all those attacks went through Mendy. His cutbacks, low crosses, combinational play and pacy runs proved to be very lethal, and it was his best game in attack.
Even the stats convey the same, as he had completed 4 dribbles, had 3 key passes and a pass completion rate of 91%, according to Sofascore. He had 106 touches in the game, and most of those touches came in crucial areas in the final third as you can observe here, which helped the team a lot in buildup play. The improvement in his attacking game, when compared to the last two seasons, is superb. Hope he continues to perform in the same way and works more on his crossing.
Negative 2 – Luka Jovic has been ineffective for a while now
I’m one of those Luka Jovic believers who still think Jovic can turn around his Real Madrid career. My hopes got high after looking at his performance vs La Real, in which he scored a goal and claimed an assist, and I expected to see him capitalise on the confidence he got from that game. But the latest performances from him haven’t been promising, and he is repeating the same mistakes of old.
A Real Madrid striker is expected to be active and authoritative on the field, but Jovic has merely been a passenger in the last two games. He is getting involved in the buildup play, but that’s not enough. He needs to make runs and make sure he is found by the teammates easily, but his passive style of play is making it tougher for him and Ancelotti. He had just 7 touches in 32 minutes and had zero shots throughout the game when the club desperately needed goals.
If he continues to play in the same way, he can consider his Real Madrid career to be heading towards the closing stage. There is still a little chance for him to change his fortune, but another such lackadaisical performance will only keep a full stop to his dreams.
Positive 3 – Eder Militao is on the way to becoming the next Sergio Ramos for Real Madrid, in attack
Eder Militao is the tallest Real Madrid outfielder on the pitch, and he has to be the obvious target for Kroos or Modric during any set-piece. His height and strength enable him to get onto the end of crosses with ease, but he has experienced some problems in directing the cross towards the goal.
Last season against Osasuna, Militao got to the end of two crosses, but couldn’t score from those free-heading situations. He got third-time lucky and he did score the winner of the game, but it was clear that he needed some training in set-pieces. This season, he missed one such free header in a 0-0 draw against Villarreal. With not many aerial targets in the team, Militao had to take advantage of his set-piece chances.
He finally seems to have worked on it, as he has scored a very important header today, which is his second headed goal in the last two weeks. And this goal came at a crucial time, in Ramos time to be precise. He also looked very comfortable and threatening while going forward from the right flank, which is further evidence that Militao is keen to channel his inner Ramos.
Another positive we can take from this game is that Karim Benzema’s injury is not serious, according to the initial reports, and he was taken off only as a precaution.
Negative 3 – Real Madrid’s struggles against teams in the bottom half of the table continues
A comeback with two late goals might make it sound like a good result, but it is not. Real Madrid has drawn a game that they could and should have won, and once again couldn’t capitalise on the chance of extending their lead at the top of the table, as Sevilla dropped points against Celta on Saturday.
And they drew another game against a bottom-half team, which makes it a total of 4 draws and 2 defeats and 14 points dropped against teams in the bottom half of the table. And the sad part is that 3 of those draws came at the Bernabeu, including two 0-0 draws against Osasuna and Cadiz.
Elche wasn’t even one of those teams who would park the bus at the Bernabeu, in hope of salvaging a point. They were solid in defence, but they maintained a mid-block and looked like a team that didn’t hesitate to take an initiative. Real Madrid found some spaces and created a lot of chances, but they couldn’t capitalise on them.
In short, they drew a match that they could have won because of their lack of clinical finishing before the goal and defensive weaknesses. This is truly disappointing, and a club like Real Madrid just needs to be ruthless on the field and win these games in style, to gain some breathing space at the top and maintain their form.