RB Leipzig defeated Real Madrid 3-2 at the Red Bull Arena. The home team gave their fans a performance to remember while the Whites and their fans will want to forget that performance as soon as possible. There weren’t many things that went right for the visitors, but many did go wrong. Read on as we give the key takeaways from Real’s first defeat of the season.
Lack of Effort
Real Madrid’s first warning sign came before the first minute. Leipzig’s first shot on target came at exactly 52 seconds. They then went on to dominate in all aspects of the game (chances created, possession and shots on target).
No footballer can have 38 fantastic performances during the season. Bad games are expected and accepted. However, what’s not accepted is no effort or desire. No one besides Eduardo Camavinga and Marco Asensio looked like they came to win this match.
Maybe securing qualification made some of the players put in this lackadaisical shift or maybe it was purely a bad day at the office.
Rudiger at left back?
For some reason, Carlo Ancelotti loves to play Antonio Rudiger at left-back. He played as a right back many times for AS Roma, but this is the first time he’s consistently been deployed as a left-back.
It’s a very strange decision and today it proved to be the wrong one as he was up against a very dynamic, pacey and skillful front three.
Once he moved to center-back, Real started to gain momentum and their performance improved.
Bravo, Cama
Camavinga had his best game of the season. The Frenchman retained and progressed the ball well, provided an offensive outlet via his third man runs and recycled the ball well.
In recent weeks, his performances off the bench have been much better and this performance will do his confidence the world of good going into the second half of the season and possibly the World Cup.
Another good performance from Asensio
The Spaniard was the second best player on the pitch. He didn’t do much wrong on the night and provided the assist to Vini Jr just before half time.
Credit to Leipzig
RB Leipzig supporters won’t forget this performance anytime soon. They were quality in and out of possession and some of their players (Nkunku, Simakan, Orban and Gvardiol) had world class performances.
Conclusion
The first loss of the season was always going to come. It was a matter of when, not if. This should be a wake up call for the players and coaching staff. They should now be aware that they aren’t invincible and that every game matters despite the opposition.
Los Merengues welcome Girona to the Bernabeu on Sunday. The home faithful will be expecting a reaction. In both the performance and result.
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