Carlo Ancelotti, angry during the match between Real Madrid and Leipzig. /
Analysis
Courtois’s call to chapter after Real Madrid’s defeat against Leipzig puts the spotlight on the occasional disconnections of Ancelotti’s team
Real Madrid received a corrective in Germany that should serve as a wake-up call for the curves ahead. The defeat against Leipzig, which ended the streak of 20 consecutive undefeated games that Carlo Ancelotti’s team accounted for, caused Thibaut Courtois to be called to a chapter for a team that appeared in the Saxon fiefdom devoid of the competitive tension required in any game of the Champions League, without the fact that he jumped onto the lawn of the Red Bull Arena with the ticket for the round of 16 of his guaranteed fetish tournament or the casualties of essential pieces such as Modric, Valverde or Benzema serving as an excuse.
Although the stumbling block has no greater consequence than making a victory next week essential for the fourteen-time king of the Old Continent against a Celtic already eliminated from Europe so that Chamartín’s team thus seals its seeded status in the draw for the 7 of November without depending on what happens in the duel between the Red Bulls and Shakhtar in Warsaw, it should also contribute to Real Madrid making a proposal to amend that defensive laxity that allowed the squad of the energy drink, the bitter reverse of the white switch.
“We go out asleep, without intensity or aggressiveness and you pay for it. The coach told us and even so we went wrong. They put you in two corners. If they put you in the first one, they can’t put another one in you. Today we have failed many passes, controls and it has not been a good game. Then they put you in the third and kill you in the final minutes,” Courtois reproached at the end of the clash, who almost never mince words when Real Madrid have a bad night.
Instead of passing the buck, the goalkeeper spoke bluntly, leading with his parliament that spirit of self-criticism that is usually an essential ingredient when it comes to correcting mistakes. Lacking concentration, low energy and victim of their indolence in certain defensive actions that contributed to Leipzig’s perfect storm, Real Madrid napped in their worst game of the season, which caused Courtois, one of the few who were saved, to crack of the burning in a dispute in which he made three inns that avoided the visiting ridicule in the first part.
“You notice that as a goalkeeper, that we are not in the game, that you notice that in each duel… many of us have not won them due to lack of intensity,” explained the Belgian, who alluded to the lack of attitude, as well as Camavinga also did, as one of the causes of the setback. “A bad day can happen, we have played many games in a short time, but what cannot be lacking is intensity and there are people on the bench if it is not possible anymore”, abounded the brand new Yashin Trophy.
Sin dramatismos
The data from the match against Leipzig prove Courtois right. Real Madrid received fourteen shots, six of them on target. The Whites lost 62.16% of their duels, when the season average gives them victory in 53.19%. They barely completed 27.59% of the dribbles they tried and only made two fouls in the first half, which shows how little grit they countered against Leipzig’s onslaught.
no claw
Real Madrid lost 62.16% of their duels against Leipzig, they only successfully completed 27.59% of the dribbles they attempted and only committed two fouls in the first half
These disconnections have been punctual in a team that, otherwise, would border on excellence in the two and a half months of the course. Almería, Espanyol, Mallorca, Osasuna, Shakhtar or Sevilla already punished the relaxation in certain sections of Real Madrid, whose impact has hardly been reflected in the results due to the extraordinary ability of the Whites to overwhelm opponents based on physical exuberance and punch when the setbacks they suffer activate a spring in their mind and their legs.
It has had an impact on the number of goals conceded by a squad whose coach, unlike Courtois, preferred to see the positive aspect and subtract drama from the first blur worthy of the name made by the one who has been behaving like a scribe up to now almost perfect. “The defeat was going to come sooner or later. It hurts because they all hurt, but some less than others. We have another opportunity to be first », asserted the transalpine, who is now responsible for his pupils to internalize another of the messages he left in Germany:« Sometimes you learn more with a defeat than with ten consecutive victories ».
