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Real Madrid scored for the 51st game running, and by bagging four goals on the night outgunned minnows Leganes with what essentially amounted to their B-team. With this, they ensured that the comfortable 2 point gap between them and Barcelona (with a game in hand) retained its status quo. They are still firmly in the driver seat when it comes to the La liga title race, while their opponents of the day remain in the drivers seat when it comes to the relegation battle, thanks to favourable results elsewhere.
Here then, are the five key talking points of the game.
5. Asensio, Morata, and Vazquez caught in a Catch-22
Marco Asensio, Alvaro Morata and Lucas Vazquez were brilliant as the three of them displayed just what they were capable of. Morata grabbed all the headlines with his record creating act:
but his partners on either side caught the eye – as they invariably do whenever they get a chance to play for a substantial period. Asensio’s and Vazquez’s intelligent movement allied with Alvaro Morata’s utter ruthlessness was the main positive for Zidane and would have heartened many a Madrid fan.
So what’s the problem then?
Thing is, the trio will never play for a club bigger than Real Madrid, because there are no clubs bigger than Real Madrid, and it is highly unlikely that they will be paid quite as much anywhere else either. But if they don’t leave, they will be crushed under the superstardom of Bale, Benzema, and Ronaldo. And whichever Galactico Florentino Perez forces on the squad in the summer.
Forget Shakespeare... To leave or not to leave, that is the question that three of Spain’s brightest attacking talents have to face up to, and eventually answer
4. Leganes show they are good enough to stay up
Alexander Szymanowski, Luciano, and Gabriel Pires showed plenty of endeavour and no little amount of skill as Leganes dug deep to recover from going 3-0 down within 23 minutes to make more than just a fist of it – but frighten the daylights out of Madrid by clawing back two unlikely goals. Even after they conceded that sucker punch of a fourth, they never gave up trying and with better finishing they could have made a serious fist of it.
All this showed that Asier Garitano Aguirrezábal and his “cucumber farmers” are not going to go back down to the division they only managed to clamber out of last season. Sporting Gijon’s loss means that the Madrid side still maintain a five point gap over the relegation zone and if they show all this spirit, grit and passion in the remainder of the games, it is highly unlikely that they will be dragged into the ‘muck’ come the business end of the season. As their captain, Martin Mantovani, said during one of those pitch-side interviews that are La Liga's specialties, their main aim is to avoid relegation this season, and on last night's evidence, they are certainly good enough to do so.
3. Real Madrid’s set pieces are working to perfection
Real Madrid have scored 22 goals from set-pieces this season. That is a fair bit more than any other La Liga team and goes to highlight – via the medium of tangible statistics – just how potent Los Blancos are in dead-ball situations.
Sergio Ramos, of course, is their main weapon during these routines – he is so good in fact that when asked what he’d gift his captain on his birthday, Toni Kroos answered with “A corner, he seems to like those” – but today others stepped up to the mark. Nacho was imperious in the opposition box, as was Alvaro Morata... and even though Kroos was rested for the match, James Rodriguez showed that there is enough quality in the squad to deliver a mean dead ball.
Many times break up the dominant La Liga side’s games by conceding fouls – no one does this better than Leganes – but so far this season, it has proved to be a costly tactic against Real Madrid.
For all the stick he is getting at the moment, Zinedine Zidane seems to be doing something right on the training grounds of Valdebebas, eh?
2. This match highlighted Real Madrid’s main advantage over Barcelona: Strength in squad depth
Imagine Barcelona scoring 4 goals after having completely rested their front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar Jr... and their main midfielders in Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic, especially against such feisty opposition. It just won’t happen, as this season has shown plenty of times. When the trio are there, Barcelona are unbeatable... but at times, taking even one of them away has handicapped Los Blaugrana in a way it really shouldn’t.
And that is exactly where Real Madrid have been better – by leaps and bounds – than Barcelona this season. While Arda Turan and Paco Alcacer are arguably bigger names than Alvaro Morata, Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio, the latter three have been in much better form and have thus been infinitely more effective. Meanwhile. Matteo Kovacic, Isco, James Rodriguez vs Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez – it’s not even a fair fight.
With modern footballing seasons being such arduosly drawn out, taxing, affairs he who has the better squad wins – and that is the simple reason behind Real Madrid leading the table at this stage of the season, and why they are still strong favourites... despite their packed schedule, and despite the great head of momentum Barcelona are building as they ready the final assault.
1. Leganes need to improve in the final third, but the match highlighted Real Madrid’s defensive frailty
For all the attacking enterprise and non-stop running that Leganes displayed in front of their fervent home support, they really do need to add a quality finisher of the ilk of Sergio Enrich – it can easily mean the difference between sitting just behind the European places and just above the drop zone. A lot of Leganes’ attacking opportunities though were presented by some especially lackadaisical defending on the part of their far more illustrious visitors.
This one stat is illuminating: Real Madrid conceded 10 shots vs Leganes, more than in any other first half of a La Liga game this season. As good as he is going forward, Danilo is a disaster waiting to happen on the right, Marcelo lapsed into some dangerous old habits (dawdling on the ball, playing too many risky back-passes), Nacho is still not entirely convincing and for all his immense goal-scoring, Sergio Ramos was, is, and always will be a walking red card waiting to happen.
Zidane needs to focus on his defence and especially on bridging the gap between defence and midfield that has started appearing in the recent weeks. Defend like this against the likes of Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona – and what promises to be a great season can all end in tears.
