Today Real Madrid had a match against Valladolid and it proved once again how hard it is for Real Madrid to score goals. In the 3 league matches Real Madrid has played they have only scored 4 goals which for a team as big as Real Madrid shouldn’t be enough.
Today’s goal was from Vinicius, he began the match on the bench and entered the field around the 60-minute mark, along with Asensio and Carvajal. The goal came after Vinicius created a clumsy combination with Valverde, and when Benzema was about to receive the ball, a defender passed it by mistake to Vinicius and he then scores easily in the 1 vs 1 against the goalkeeper.
Real Madrid had several opportunities to score more goals, most of them from Jovic in the first 60 minutes of the match, but sadly he was unable to score any of those chances. He had a good match though and in my opinion, he even played better than Benzema.
Courtois, on the other hand, was excellent. He saved at least 2 important shots from the rival team and was as solid as always. There is no doubt this goalkeeper is absolutely world-class, one of the best in the world, and let’s not forget last season he won the individual trophy called Zamora which is an award for the goalkeeper with the best ratio between matches and goals received in the Spanish league.
When it comes to the squad, Zidane is making some positive rotations. The surprise today was seeing Isco and Odriozola in the pitch since the beginning of the match. Jovic might also be considered a surprise but since he was included in the previous match and the team scored 3 goals in that match I was expecting to see him again since the beginning. Both Isco and Odriozola had an OK match, not bad but also not great.
Hazard didn’t participate in the match. It was reported he suffered another injury and will be out between 3 and 4 weeks. This player has been suffering from horrible luck related to injuries since the moment he was transferred to Real Madrid. Last season was the worst ever for him and he scores just 1 goal! This season he is also beginning in a horrible way and I am not sure he will be able to earn the team’s and Zidane’s confidence if he keeps getting injured and producing a crappy performance.
I also want to write about Benzema, it is true he became the leader of the attack since CR7 left the team, and his previous season was awesome, that’s all true. However, in these 3 league matches, I am seeing Benzema with a lot of frustration and without being able to be as productive as he should be.
Every time he makes a shot it is a crappy one and since he is such an important player for Real Madrid’s attacks, if he doesn’t play properly the entire team will have problems making goals. The presence of Jovic has somehow alleviated this problem because the rival defenders now have 2 strikers instead of one and this leaves more space for other Real Madrid’s players to make proper shots, but if Benzema doesn’t improve his performance maybe putting him on the bench in some matches might be a good idea.
Despite Real Madrid disappointing tie in the first match, now they have 2 victories in 3 matches, which is a better start than the one they had last season where they were only able to achieve 1 victory and 2 ties. Atletico de Madrid also played today but since I didn’t watch that game so I can’t comment on it. The only thing I saw was that after scoring 6 goals in their first league match they now scored 0 in the second one even though Suarez was in the pitch since the beginning.
Barcelona will play their second match tomorrow and I will try to watch it, they scored 4 goals in their first match so I am curious to know if they are able to maintain that performance.