As most of you know, Real Madrid traveled to France to take on PSG on match day one of each of their Champions League campaigns. Going into the game, you would more than likely assume it would be a well played and articulated match, where both teams would be feeling each other out in the first half or so. And then proceed to go on to some actual goal scoring in the second half. Well, that is where you are wrong.
Despite missing the likes of Cavani, Mbappe, and Neymar, PSG took complete advantage of Real’s current form defensively, and exploited all of their known weaknesses to perfection. Real Madrid, expectedly, came out flat, and PSG responded by ramping up the pace of the game early.
With Real’s defense currently “Ramos-less,” you can see the disorganization early, which inevitably lead to PSG’s first goal. Ángel Di María, in the 13th minute of play, sneaks in a lovely toe tap at the near post, to beat Courtois.
Varane and new CB signing, Éder Militão, were just not playing well together as a center back pairing. They were caught stretched out numerous times, with huge gaps for the opposition to play through and around, with ease. You would expect a player like Varane to try and take on the leadership role in the back line, when Sergio Ramos isn’t available. Zidane needs to be able to trust his back line with out the captain, because he won’t be there forever. However, the back line wasn’t the only issue.
PSG picked apart Real in the middle of the park as well, with triangles and movement off the ball all game long. James of Real Madrid, tried to step up to create attacking opportunities, and left the likes of Kroos and Casemiro to suffer defensively. So much so, that it brought them their second goal which was scored again by Di María in the 33rd minute of play just outside the 18yrd box. After a fantastic one-two, around Real’s best defensive midfielder (Casemiro), Di María collected the ball, and struck a well hit shot past the outstretched arms of Courtois, once more.
And finally the 3rd, and last goal of the night, was scored by Thomas Meunier in injury time. The goal itself was well worked on the counter by PSG, so no discredit to them. But again, Real Madrid’s defensive efforts made it seem as if they had given up. And the score line surely ended up reflecting that as well.
Now, I’m not saying that there is no hope for Madrid, as I know they have the talent and firepower on offense to turn their Champions League journey around. They definitely have the ability offensively, as they registered more shots than PSG (10), but not one of them were on target. At the end of the day, they need to find themselves defensively, and fast, before it’s too late.
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