Is Real Madrid Just Lucky?

In characteristic fashion, the aftermath of Real Madrid’s 6-2 aggregated victory over Napoli in the last-sixteen round of the Champions League brought a lot less joy than outright questioning of Zinedine Zidane’s decisions.

Fans of other teams might look at this as an inexplicable taste for criticism. Real Madrid supporters prefer to believe it’s another example of their own incomparable obsession with excellence, something that drives them to analyse their team’s drawbacks in exasperating detail.

The fact is that right after Dries Mertens scored, Napoli were only one goal away from outclassing Real Madrid and dumping them out of their favourite tournament. And by the look of things, few expected anything different.

The worst nightmares of most Real Madrid fans had become true. Playing with Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo hadn’t brought the expected offensive dominance; even worse, their lack of will and desire to press up front had left Real Madrid’s midfield exposed.

Of course, Zidane’s team have won bigger matches with that starting XI. However, after a few minutes it was evident that Bale, dangerous as he is in most situations, is still far from his top speed. Benzema, not being the reference of the attack like he was in Eibar, had vanished. And Ronaldo, trying to get involved in build-up plays, was running into Benzema a bit too often.

Zidane’s confidence on the front three reached unprecedented heights in Napoli. The locals’ energy in midfield and their ability to move between lines seemed to demand more control of the ball and extra men in the middle of the park from the very beginning. The fact that Real Madrid have the deepest bench in decades in terms of midfield talent, and that their substitutes, young and physically gifted, could fight on equal terms with Napoli’s imposing starters, did not matter to the French manager. Zidane decided to trust the formula that has worked for him.

If the approach was wrong from the beginning, it was shocking that Zidane didn’t make any adjustments after Napoli scored or during halftime. Coach Maurizio Sarri must have not believed his eyes when their advantage on midfield was kept intact for so long. But then Sergio Ramos arrived and it was all wine and roses for the visitors.

Ramos’ ability to save his team should not hide Real Madrid’s poor play until his first goal in the 52nd minute. Even more concerning was the lack of an adjustment by Zidane, particularly when he had already put together a cohesive unit for the previous La Liga match.

His trust in the trio for top matches is not doing any favours for Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo. Because of their style of play and their offensive focus, they need to be in top form to track back for a decent part of the match. When they aren’t, it’s blatantly obvious that they are letting the team down, abandoning Luka Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos to deal with the opposition by themselves.

Hopefully, Zidane will have learned the lesson after the scare in Napoli. Years and injuries make it hard to compare this “BBC” to the one that the French manager probably has in mind, the one that won the Champions League title in 2014 when all three players were in top shape and Zidane was Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant.

Since he took over, Zidane’s approach has had meritocracy as one of its pillars and the fact that the trio of players has a guaranteed spot in key matches regardless of their shape, or the needs of the match, makes his speech less credible. If he wants to keep the rest of the squad as motivated as they’ve been so far, Zidane has to review his policy of starting the trio no matter what. Many key matches and trophies await.