These are tough times for Real Madrid fans, such as myself. Ever since the peak of performance was reached in May by winning the UEFA Champions League, totaling to a record number of 10 European Cups in the club’s history, Real Madrid haven’t looked as hungry as before. Of course, the transfers of Ángel Di María and Xabi Alonso leaving the club have been discussed immensely by the fans and public. Whether new signings in the likes of Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez, Keylor Navas and Chicarito will enhance performance remains to be seen…
The “derbi madrileño” has just ended 1:2 for Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid are now six points behind arch-enemy FC Barcelona after just three match-days. Barça having won all three, Real having only won the season opener against Cordoba, have now lost two matches in a row. The latest of course, being the one at home, didn’t come as a big surprise since Real Madrid’s form has hit a low after the defeat at Real Sociedad. In that match Real were leading with a comfortable scoreline of 2:0, but ended up losing the match 4:2 due to a lack of fighting spirit.
In last night’s match there was definitely more of a fighting spirit to be seen. Still, Real haven’t managed to beat Atlético since the Champions League final. Questions by the fans on whether transfer policy has been positive are very understandable at this point. If Carlo Ancelotti doesn’t get his side to perform as they did last season, it might well be his last one with the club. I highly doubt that club president Florentino Pérez will let Real Madrid undergo a similar fate as Manchester United have last season. It will be interesting to see how they will perform in the coming group stage of the UEFA Champions League, where they only face one top-team: FC Liverpool. The last meeting of the two clubs was back in 2009, where Liverpool knocked Real Madrid out of the round of sixteen with an aggregate score of 5:0! The opener against FC Basel this coming Tuesday should easily result in a much needed win.
The current “crisis” – if you like to call it one – will only end if Ancelotti manages to awaken the players’ hunger of winning games again. In tonight’s match, only Cristiano Ronaldo has been a fighter in my opinion. He scored Real’s only goal – even if it only was a penalty – and looked very dangerous on numerous occasions. He gave it his all to win the match. On the other hand, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema have had a bad game. The Frenchman wasn’t able to score a very important goal in the 34th minute, after CR7 passed him the ball just outside the penalty area, but due to a lack of ball control, goalkeeper Moyá was able to pick it up without any problems. Unfortunately, loaned-out Chicarito wasn’t able to do anything about the scoreline after having been brought in after 62 minutes. Still, Real Madrid have kept pressing, but the Atlético defense, which looked quite unstable at times, was able to pull through and keep the 3 points in their pockets.
It almost feels as if Real Madrid have a disease. A disease which pops out of the blue after having won a title or two. The attitude of some players on the pitch appears to be anything but optimal. It feels like some are not giving it their all. Let’s hope that Carlo Ancelotti has the right cure for it…
The Germafrican 