Zinedine Zidane admitted after Real Madrid’s 1-0 win away at Sevilla last Saturday that “some things need to be fixed, and when we fix them we will be competitive”.
However, time is not on the Frenchman’s side, as Los Blancos face the prospect of Champions League elimination on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid have not failed to reach the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition since the tournament was reformed in 1992, yet a negative result against Borussia Monchengladbach could see that become a reality.Looking over Los Blancos’ 16 games so far this season, there are several aspects that Zidane needs to focus on in order to become a competitive force once again, starting against Gladbach.
It was expected that more goals would come from the wide men and midfielders in the post-Cristiano era, yet this has simply not been the case. Marco Asensio has failed to score or register an assist in 13 appearances this season, while Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes are still works in progress.
A consequence of this overreliance on Benzema for goals is that Real Madrid find it difficult to score the decisive goal in games, or they fail to add to their tally once they break the deadlock. They are no longer the force in attack that they once were, and this keeps the opposition in the match.
It is unfortunate, but the number of minutes some players are playing and the muscle injuries picked up surely correlates. By picking the same players every week, Zidane is likely to see the injury list grow as the season goes on.