Real Madrid stumbled again and gave its neighbor Atletico Madrid another opportunity to deepen the difference at the top of the Spanish League, and this came at the end of a difficult month for the royal club.
Real lost 2-1 to Levante yesterday, Saturday, and ended January with 3 defeats that resulted in the team's exit from the Spanish Super Cup and the King's Cup and kept it from competing for the LaLiga title, with Atletico Madrid close to expanding the lead in the lead to 13 points.
And coach Zinedine Zidane is left with nothing but the Champions League competition, which returns from next February, to save the season.
However, the brilliance in the continental competition first passes over the hurdle of Italian Atalanta in the final round, and fixes the mistakes that caused the current situation of the team.
Summary of Levante's victory over Real Madrid in Alfredo Di Stefano # RealMadridLevante 1-2 pic.twitter.com/g5N2keO91I
- LaLiga (@LaLigaArab) January 30, 2021
Old guard
Zidane bet exaggeratedly on experienced players, and although they performed outstandingly and achieved qualification in the Champions League after a difficult start, their participation in many matches physically drained them and caused injuries to a number of them.
Discard replacements
Zidane was famous during his first period at Real Madrid by adopting the rotation between players, which allowed him to have two teams ready, and gave him multiple options in all positions.
On the contrary, the French coach, since the beginning of the current season, marginalized the bench, relied on a limited group of players, and did not give equal opportunities to all players in order to prove their abilities.
Real Madrid paid the price for this in the decline in the level of most of the players, and they failed to compensate the injured main players, due to their long absence from the competition.
Hazard and Benzema
Zidane insisted on giving the Belgian Eden Hazard a lot of time, despite his decline and his injury.
The former player did not appear for Chelsea in an effective way, and did not leave an imprint in most of the matches in which he participated, and this came at the expense of other players who were able to influence the results of some matches.
On the other hand, striker Karim Benzema receives special treatment, and he is not able to compete in the team regardless of his performance on the field, and this comes at the expense of other attackers, most notably the Serbian Luka Jovic, who preferred to go out in the current transfer market in search of a greater opportunity to play with Frankfurt.
Changes and alternative plans
Despite the amendment of the laws due to the Corona pandemic, and giving the teams an opportunity to make 5 substitutions in the match, Zidane did not take advantage of that, as he prefers to make two or 3 substitutions at most in the match, and this is often done late without these changes having an impact on the result.
Real Madrid lacked diversity in plans, and did not find solutions against the teams that adopt the defensive bloc, and Zidane's touch did not appear in finding appropriate solutions according to the circumstances of each match.
Contract renewal crisis
The Real Madrid administration has not succeeded in resolving the issue of renewal for players whose contracts expire at the end of the current season, and news of stalled negotiations with captain Sergio Ramos affected the atmosphere within the team, given the great role of this player.
Fans are waiting to know the future of Luka Modric and Lucas Vasquez as their contracts close to the end, and are looking forward to discovering the management plan for the next season with signs of failure in the current season and the approaching team to leave empty-handed from all competitions.