Madrid ‘record’ goal | sports

Until the pandemic froze soccer, Real Madrid was somewhat countercultural. A team that has always been distinguished by the ardor against the rival goal found their best numbers in their own. Zidane’s group went to confinement as the least scored in the first 27 days of the League, with 19 goals conceded, 12 less than Barça and two less than Atlético. For two decades, in the 87-88 campaign, the white goal was not so little punished; then there were 18 stings.

This is the formula he found to solve an equation that has been presented to him in a crushing way since the summer of 2018: how to compensate for the goals that went with Ronaldo. You have tried several solutions. First he responded by staying almost as he was, and the consequences were not good: 31 times less in the League from one season to another. Twelve months later, he corrected the moderation with which he had been moving in the market and returned to bite: 100 million for Hazard, 60 for Jovic and 45 for Rodrygo just for the attack. But neither. Until the March break, the Belgian, practically injured since November, had a target and the Serbian, two. Rodrygo, on the other hand, climbed up to seven in all competitions, four more than Bale and three more than Vinicius. An insufficient sum to help Benzema (19).

Paradoxically, the solution to the problem was not in the opposite goal, but in his own (49 to many in favor and 19 against, compared to Barça’s 63-31). A resource defensive which explains the application of a squad that once again faced the cumbersome day-to-day commitments, pushed by a coach who from the first moment warned that his priority objective was the domestic tournament.

Casemiro Cement

If last season he received 1.18 goals on average per game at this point in the championship, in the eight months contested of the current one it dropped to 0.7. There it made the difference because in the section of so many in favor the figures were almost identical: 49 this year, only two more than last. Mendy’s bolt on the left side, Valverde’s vigor in the midfield and Courtois’ improvement battled the whites, a squad often defined by Casemiro’s cement, the league’s maximum recuperator (8.72 for match), according to the statistics of the company Opta.

Backwards the numbers were optimal. Madrid’s luck in this 11-season mini-season plus what falls in the Champions League will depend, to a large extent, on how it progresses upwards. It will be easier for him if he finds the 2019 Benzema. Until his agonizing target in Mestalla, in mid-December, he scored 16. Then, just three. Behind the French no one knew how to take the flag, although they did find a collective solution. In these three operational months of 2020, with the nine fallow, up to 15 Madrid fans sang bingo, the same as Barça throughout the course. Nacho fixed it in Zorrilla, Casemiro beat Sevilla and Varane subdued Getafe.

In attack, the margin of improvement has a Belgian name. The pandemic has given Hazard an extra ball, healthy again, to start making the centennial outlay good. He has only been able to play 38% of the matches (15 of 39) and his score includes more penalties (three) than goals (one) between the League and the Champions. An unexpected escape route in one of those players considered as a safe value, with 29 years, and an average of 15 points with the blues (last year it reached 21). Asensio also returns, injured since August, and called to give air on an extreme calendar.

Another who has time to straighten up is Bale, who has not scored in the home tournament since September, with his double to Villarreal. In the following seven months, only one cup goal against Unionistas de Salamanca. Waiting for the agitator Vinicius, the first Rodrygo, the punctual Mariano of the last classic and the recovered Asensio, the Belgian, the Welsh and the French will be the most demanded.

The one who will not be able to justify himself, at least in the League, is Jovic, injured in one heel during his controversial confinement in his country. The Serb, who came with a 27-goal card at Eintracht Frankfurt, scored as many assists from spur (two) as goals, which were only enough to close the wins to Leganés (5-0) and Osasuna (1-4) . The targets he and others did not bring were compensated by the team with those he did not receive. In the precoronavirus league, the white equation was solved by the defense.

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