It is always tough for Real Madrid on the home soil of Valladolid and yesterday night’s encounter was no different. Coupled with the fact that Los Blancos are finding it difficult scoring goals, the resilient and well compact defense of Valladolid further frustrated their quest for the three points yesterday.
Zinedine Zidane rolled out his preferred 4-3-1-2 with Thubait Courtois standing in between the sticks. Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos partnering each other in central defense, Ferland Mendy at left back and Nacho Hernandez selected to replace the suspended Dani Carvajal at right back.
Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric filled the midfield three while Isco stood at the back of Karim Benzema and Rodrygo.
This was a formation that looked like a 4-3-3 with Isco completing the three men forward but the Spaniard’s positioning made it impossible for Real Madrid to play fully from the flanks as he drifted through the midfield and across both flanks constantly, disrupting the flow of the attack and that of Rodrygo who found it difficult maintaining a position and influence the game through it.
As the match progressed, it became evident that Eden Hazard and Vinicius Junior’s dribbling and defense-splitting movements were missed. Real Madrid passed the ball around much but with nothing concrete to show for it and Valladolid gladly sat back and blocked everything that came into their 18 yard box effectively.
It is no surprise that Real Madrid needed set pieces or crosses into the box to find the back of the Valladolid net through Casemiro whose goal was ruled out for offside after scoring from a Toni Kroos set piece and second from Nacho in the 78th minute, same Toni Kroos did the crossing.
Real Madrid were okay with the lone goal as they cautiously returned back to safeguard the one goal as Valladolid moved upfront to attack the whites in the dying stages of the match. At the end, Real Madrid laughed last as they move top table, three points above FC Barcelona who lost to Valencia the day before yesterday.
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