Real Madrid News
Real Madrid camp worried about the state of the team’s defence – report
Despite Real Madrid’s stellar start to the new season, the team is starting to show signs of complacency, as evident in their relatively poor end to the Champions League group stage campaign.
The club have also lost ground in La Liga, even more so after a 3-2 defeat to Rayo Vallecano that helped Barcelona become the league leaders as we head into the final matchday before club football grinds to a halt, in light of the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
In the aftermath of Real Madrid’s defeat to Rayo, a report from MARCA suggests that the feeling around the camp is not very positive at the moment.
It appears everyone in the Real Madrid camp is worried about the state of the team’s defence this season which has underperformed even when the club have managed to squeeze points out of matches.
Indeed, in 13 league matches, the Whites have conceded 13 goals this season, which is considerably higher than the four Barcelona have conceded all season so far.
In fact, Real Madrid’s tally of 13 goals conceded is the joint-highest among the top five spots in the league table. The club’s defensive shortcomings are further indicated by the fact that star goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is yet to even keep a single clean sheet in the league.
However, there is still time for Real Madrid to improve defensively, especially with club football set to go on an early hiatus due to the FIFA World Cup. It should give coach Carlo Ancelotti ample time to address the issue and get his ideas across to the team.
In what could be a real deal breaker for Real Madrid ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona, it has been revealed that as many as three Barça will be absent from the game while another key player remains a major doubt.
The list includes the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen. The trio is certain to miss the game through respective injuries while a certain Frenkie de Jong is more or less ruled out, as per Javi Miguel.
It must be remembered that Barcelona are heading into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage. But the absence of the aforementioned players means Madrid can work on exploiting the frailties.
Despite the absence of such big names, Barcelona did pretty well against Elche in their previous outing, coming out 4-0 victorious, with the goals coming from Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres.
With options lacking in midfield, Xavi decided to use the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia along with Gavi in the heart of the lineup. In any way, they do have Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie as backups if needed.
The defence, on the other hand, was perfectly guarded by Jordi Alba, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
One can expect Xavi to once again interchange Araujo with Kounde on the right since the Uruguayan has been rather successful in minimizing the threat of Vinicius Jr.
As far as Madrid are concerned, they are sweating over the fitness of three key defenders, namely, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, and Ferland Mendy. Between these three, the Frenchman is out for about a month while Rudiger and Nacho are expected to be back before the Clasico.
If there are no casualties against Real Valladolid, Madrid will have a perfect midfield and attack, with only Mariano Diaz missing.
