After losing 4-0 to Barcelona, Real Madrid have to worry about a Champions League battle against AC Milan on Tuesday night, and while the Rossoneri have issues of their own, everyone knows that a top Serie A side is nothing to sneeze at, especially when they have their own aura in this competiton.
Even in the Champions League this season, the defending champs Real Madrid have looked vulnerable, falling 1-0 to Lille in one of the early shocks of the tournament thus far.
Real Madrid were the best team in Europe last season despite a bevy of injuries, and, this season, they haven’t even been the best team in their own league thus far. Hansi Flick and Barcelona have shown Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid levels.
Ahead of Tuesday’s game against Milan, Relevo reports that Carlo and the Real Madrid coaching staff spent extra time figuring out what their biggest weakness is and how to address it, and the Spanish outlet states that these astute footballing minds believe the issue squarely lies in the defense.
Yeah, no kidding. Literally every single Real Madrid fan was screaming at the top of their lungs that this defense wasn’t good enough, and that was all the way back last season.
Real Madrid somehow survived ACL tears to Thibaut Courtois, Eder Militao, and David Alaba, partially because Courtois and Militao did at least return at the end of the Champions League campaign.
Another part was the heroics of Ferland Mendy, Dani Carvajal, and Aurelien Tchouameni filling in as center backs. This season, Militao and Courtois have been relatively healthy despite minor injuries, but Alaba is still out.
And now, Dani Carvajal has gone down with an ACL tear, leaving Real Madrid without a real right back, as Lucas Vazquez reminded the world of his vulnerabilities by getting toasted by Raphinha and friends in El Clasico.
If Carlo doesn’t fix up a defense that has relied on the brilliance of the personnel rather than any sort of tactical guidance from the manager to help them out, then this could be a long season for Madrid in the face of a rising juggernaut in Barcelona.
You really have to wonder why it took Real Madrid so long to realize they had problems defensively, but, again, they were probably lulled into a false sense of security by last season’s overperformance.
There’s also the matter of losing Nacho Fernandez, a club icon, to Saudi Arabia this summer, which took Real’s most valuable utility defender away from them as an option if a starter goes down.
Real Madrid are going to have to sign an experienced center back, like Aymeric Laporte, this winter, but Carlo, Davide, and the rest are also going to have to get their act together.
