Analysis: Forget Ronaldo, Real Madrid's woes are at the back
Last night’s 4-2 loss to Atletico Madrid in the European SuperCup final proved that they have a weak backbone, and losing CR7 isn’t going to help.
2-1 up until the 79th, the Merengues suddenly lost their heads when Casemiro went off, replaced by Dani Ceballos. With the Brazilian’s defensive steel out of the picture Real conceded when Marcelo carelessly gave the ball away on the wing, allowing Diego Costa to net the 2-2.
It was evident then (to me at least) that Real would have a bad evening after that. Ronaldo was missed, and Marcelo didn’t shine at the other end, trying to scissor-kick a beautiful assist from Gareth Bale despite being only a couple of yards out. This was on 93 minutes, still in time added on.
The central pairing didn’t have a much better time: Sergio Ramos being beaten to the ball by Diego Costa and Raphael Varane failing to stay goalside of him after only 53 seconds, allowing the Spanish-Brazilian to score, but not without some help from Keylor Navas, who didn’t close the angle quickly enough.
There would be no respite for Varane, who gave it away for the 3-2 just outside the box after having Ramos dump a hot potato on him. Real looked a shambles at the back, and without Ronaldo a fourth straight Champions League title seems more and more unlikely.