Los Blancos are not ready to start La Liga only six days ahead of the kick-off. Real Madrid drew (2-2) against Roma in the last game of the pre-season, leaving a really bad balance during this summer with three defeats, two draws and two victories. Besides, the new signings are not shining and the team doesn’t know how to defend. Keylor Navas and Thibaut Courtois are the best during the games, and this is not a good symptom.
In Rome, Zidane tried again the five defenders line, with Nacho instead of Sergio Ramos, and this is a huge difference. The Spaniard is showing a really poor level, not enough to play at Real Madrid, and was again one of the worst players in the pitch. Militao is far from the level as well, and Marcelo is more dangerous attacking than productive defending. As a result of that, Roma could have scored two or three goals in the first minutes with Under or Dzeko, but Courtois avoided them.
Luckily, Real Madrid was the one taking advantage in the scoreboard. Luka Modric showed up and Marcelo nailed a great goal with the right foot. But Los Blancos were unable to keep the advantage and Roma found soon the draw thanks to Perotti and the Real Madrid defenders. The disaster in the defensive line was evident and Dzeko was doing whatever he wanted. But in the meantime, Casemiro was able to score the second goal with a header in offside. One minute later, Dzeko drew again the game. It would have been unfair for Los Blancos to have advantage at the half-time.
In the second half, Zidane changed the formation and the idea of playing. Valverde and Nacho were removed, and Vinicius and Jovic replaced them. So Los Blancos were playing now with four attacking players, and things improved a bit, although the ideas are still unclear. Jovic and Vinicius had good chances to put Real Madrid ahead of the scoreboard, but they found Pau López. We also had time to see Gareth Bale again for 20 minutes, and the Welshman was one of the best footballers on the pitch. If things don’t change in the market, Real Madrid will need him.
At the end, penalty shoot-out defined the game and Roma got the trophy. However, the most important thing is the image shown, and Los Blancos are not ready. Besides, Zidane doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing, with many changed, both in the formation and with the players. Tests are over and the important thing starts on Saturday at Balaídos, with Iago Aspas waiting to make some damage.
