LaLiga 2018-19: Real Madrid 2-0 Sevilla | Five Talking Points

#2 Madrid's issues right now: Creativity and Finishing

Benzema has been poor in front of the goal lately. Real Madrid's finishing problems will haunt them against tough oppositions

Real Madrid had 23 attempted shots on goal. How many of them went in? Two. How many of them were on target? Six.

Los Vinkingos came up against a sturdy defense of Sevilla. We didn't see many occasions in which the defense was left behind, other than the obvious mistake from the defense leading to Modric's goal.

Most of their shots were from long range. This shows that Real Madrid had no lee-way into opposition's defense. The midfield created shot opportunities, that is visible from the key-pass count. But they didn't have even one through ball, not even one. If you are not going to thread through the defense, you are not likely to unlock the defense.

The finishing needs a lot of improvement. Benzema and Vinicius had seven shots among them and scored none. Their poor finishing forced their midfielders to shoot more often. Casemiro, Ceballos, and Modric had 14 shots among themselves. Poor finishing causes all these problems. Midfielders have to shoot themselves, taking their primary job away from them.

It did not hurt against Sevilla because they chose not to counter-attack. If there is counter-attacking from the opposition, midfielders in shooting positions would find it hard to track back.