I would’ve loved to say I knew Real Madrid were going to win, but hell if I knew. I couldn’t understand what happened, but after three bad halves of football, I wasn’t expecting the insane win over PSG in the second leg to advance to the quarter-finals.
A hat-trick from Karim Benzema – aided by a Modric masterclass – helped seal the deal for Real Madrid, as they now look to find out their opponents in the quarter-finals of the Champions League later this month. I am so happy.
Here are the three lessons learnt:
The negatives from this game need to be addressed, irrespective of the result
Real Madrid did not start the game well. They pressed high for 15 minutes, and there were already a couple of chances created for Mbappe to pounce on by then. They stopped pressing, and PSG took control. The team wasn’t fully in a medium block, they weren’t really pressing, they were caught between two worlds, the game plan was too inconsistent, and that’s how Real conceded the first goal.
Let’s talk about the right side for a little bit. There is no way in hell Marco Asensio deserves a spot on the roster. Would I argue that he’s at least good off the bench? Yes, he might be. But, it’s not worth it when Ancelotti decides that it’s time to start him in games he has no business starting in, based on a few good performances off the bench. How long would it take Ancelotti to realise this? How long will Asensio keep getting chances for? How long until one moment of brilliance in an otherwise really bad performance is not enough to warrant a starting spot? How long until this club realises which player is good enough and which player isn’t?
Trust me when I say that Rodrygo did more in his first five minutes than Asensio did in both legs combined. I’m not exaggerating. He was a great substitution, he should’ve started in a game like this.
Speaking of bad players, Dani Carvajal wasn’t great either. I’m not even talking about him getting smoked by Mbappe on a few occasions. I’m talking about everything else. Carvajal wasn’t great offensively, he left a lot of space behind, but only because he was forced to overlap and cover a lot of space because of Asensio’s reluctance to be useful. Still was a bad performance, though. Real Madrid need a right-back so bad.
Ancelotti, even after this performance, should not stay beyond this season. I’m not going to change my perspective based on one game. He still needs to go.
These issues need to be addressed if Real Madrid want to take the next step. They need better players. They need more options. They need more flexibility.