Real Madrid won 4-2 against Celta de Vigo on Sunday but the result fails to reflect the reality about Los Blancosa performance on the night.
Facing Celta de Vigo at their home ground is not the easiest task for any La Liga teams. The Galician outfit caused Barcelona and Atletico a lot of problems on their visit to Balaidos and despite losing against Real Madrid, Celta nearly threatened to end The Whitesa dream of fighting for the league till the end.
Here is a look at the five things we learned in Real Madrida s victory over Celta de Vigo:
Similar Defending Will Cost Real Dearly Against Sevilla or Juventus
After winning against Atletico Madrid due to some solid defending, the Real Madrid defenders just failed to turn up against Celta. Shambolic defending cost Real Madrid in the first ten minutes itself as in-form attacker, Nolito, easily went past Carvajal and Varane to beat Casillas to break the deadlock. Casillas, Marcelo and Carvajal were terrible on the night but Sergio Ramos and Varane showed glimpses of promise to keep Real Madrid into the game. Celta had no problems exploiting the away sidea s vulnerabilities at the back and some clinical attacking could have easily seen the home side score one or two more goals than they actually did. Such defending will surely be massively punished by their upcoming opponents, Sevilla and Juventus.
Drop In Intensity At The Business End Is Not A Good Sign
In both the quarter-final legs in the Champions League against Atletico, Real Madrid were intense, alert and determined to end up the winners. If Ancelottia s men wish to win or at least keep the La Liga alive till the end, they will have to maintain similar intensity in all the remaining games of the season. Coming to the business end of the season, Real Madrid have to win every game to come up with a positive end to the campaign. The Whites will have to up their game before their visits to Sevilla or Juventus.
Illarramendi Needs To Go
Illarramendi was brought in as a long-term replacement for Xabi Alonso. However, after Alonsoa s departure to Bayern Munich, Kroos came in and took up the Spaniarda s role, leaving Illarramendi to keep his place on the bench. The lack of game time has clearly affected the former Real Sociedad playera s confidence and he needs to play more in order to bring it back. It is a known fact that his role at Real Madrid will not be improved and he will only be played if either of Modric or Kroos is unavailable. The Spaniard could seek to spend a season away on loan to a Spanish side and come back to club stronger and more confident.
Isco Has Failed To Justify His Rant
Isco has been expressing his disappointment about not being amongst the first names on the team sheet. The Spaniard has had a successful season at the Bernabeu but yet sees himself behind James Rodriguez in the pecking order. Isco is clearly unsatisfied with that but he has made his case worse after the game against Celta. While James Rodriguez was working hard, creating chances and also scoring a goal on Sunday, Isco was largely unseen throughout the game and even failed to score on one of the few chances he had. Completing 100 appearances with Real Madrid in just 2 seasons, Isco wishes to be a part of the starting 11 on a regular basis. However, the 23-year old needs to up his game, if he wishes to start ahead of James or Bale.
Chicharito Has Proved His Mettle
Chicharito is one of the many players who rarely received time on the pitch in the first half of the season. However, injuries to Bale and Benzema have given the Mexican a golden opportunity to show Carlo Ancelotti what he was missing. And the Manchester United loanee has done just that in his last two starts for The Whites. After scoring the winner against Atletico to take Real Madrid through to the Champions League semi-finals, Chicharito played a huge role in making sure Real got all the three points on Sunday. The striker scored a brace against Celta and both the goals showed what the Mexican is capable of. Chicharito might just be making a strong case for himself and might force Real Madrid to offer him a permanent move.