5 reasons why Real Madrid failed in the El Clasico

The second Clasico of the 2016-17 season could not have come at a better time for Real Madrid as Barcelona looked shaky and shot on confidence coming into the fixture, while Los Blancos were flying high after their Champions League success against Bayern Munich. Madrid were the better side heading into El Clasico and it was expected that they would be the team to end the night with an advantage in the title race.

It was an absolute humdinger, relentless from the start and was a pulsating contest, only to be settled in Barca’s favour largely due to the brilliance of a certain individual named Lionel Messi.

Even with Messi at his imperious best, one could say that Real Madrid and Zidane shot themselves on the foot, thanks to some questionable decision making.

Let’s look at the reasons that led to Real Madrid’s defeat:

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#1 Team selection

Gareth Bale didn’t offer much in his time on the pitch

This was a dubious decision right from the start, and it came back to haunt Madrid. Gareth Bale never really looked in the game, with a mere 19 touches in the 39 minutes he was on the pitch. Right from the moment Marco Asensio came on as a replacement for the Welshman, he looked lively and was the most dangerous Madrid player out in the field during the match, creating three key chances.

Asensio is a gifted young player and a starting berth in place of a woefully out of form and injury plagued Bale would have made more sense.

If there is one footballer who continues to divide opinions among the Madrid fans then it must be Isco. The Spaniard has been in fantastic form of late and has produced some sparkling results. The Clasico was just the right game for him to stamp his class and authority.

Starting him, ahead of Toni Kroos, who ran his socks off in the Champions League encounter against Bayern on Tuesday, would have helped Madrid establish more attacking supremacy.

Isco with his pace and trickery would have surely given the fragile Barcelona defence a lot of problems.

#2 Sergio Ramos’s moment of madness

Ramos was given a straight red for a reckless tackle on Messi

Ivan Rakitic scored in the 72nd minute to put Barcelona 2-1 ahead. Five minutes later, Sergio Ramos put in a dangerous tackle on Lionel Messi and was shown a straight red card for the offence. This isn’t the first time the Real Madrid captain has been shown a red card in the Clasico; last April at Nou Camp, he was shown a straight red for a similar kind of offence.

Ramos’s red card left Madrid light at the back, and made them vulnerable to the Barcelona counter-attack which ultimately led to the decisive Messi goal in the 92nd minute.

The Spanish defender has been Madrid’s hero in the past, but on the night of the Clasico, he was the villain who might have just caused Real Madrid the La Liga title.

#3 The Mateo Kovacic substitution

Kovacic was brought on for Casemiro, who was lucky to stay on the pitch

Real Madrid play with a gung-ho style of football, in which even the holding midfielder and the full backs push high up the pitch to attack. With the game poised on the knife edge at 1-1, Zidane chose to bring on Mateo Kovacic for Casemiro. Kovacic isn’t a holding midfielder and lacks the discipline required to perform the required role.

Casemiro himself was lucky to have survived till the 70th minute, after a couple of reckless tackles on Messi which went unpunished just before the interval.

Kovacic hasn’t really been successful at Madrid yet, and hardly helped Luka Modric exert any sort of control in midfield on Sunday. It won’t be a surprise if Madrid let go of the Croatian, and find a midfielder who can exert some control during the big games.

#4 Ronaldo’s profligacy

Ronaldo missed an easy chance in the second half

If Messi was magnificent then Ronaldo was surely at the other end of the spectrum. The Portuguese attacker looked out of sorts in the final third and missed several opportunities, the most glaring chance in the 67th-minute when he missed a simple tap-in after being set up by Asensio.

Even his link up play with Benzema looked off, as he was unable to control the proceedings like he usually does.

Ronaldo is a big game player and on a night when his rival reached new heights, he was left frustrated and cut a forlorn figure.

#5 Zidane’s tactics

Zidane could have gone with a different approach to the game considering Barcelona’s iffy form

Zidane’s footballing pedigree and achievements cannot be questioned or doubted. Madrid have been excellent under the Frenchman, having won the Champions League, Super Cup, and the Club World Cup. Zidane brought life back to the Bernabeu after some really insipid and lifeless displays under former manager Rafael Benitez.

But having said all this, he hasn’t brought any style of play to Madrid or tactical change in the way the team plays.

Barcelona were struggling for form and consistency, and it would have made more sense if Zidane approached the game in a different manner by fielding Isco, Asensio and James Rodriguez right from the start in place of Kroos, Bale and Benzema and, playing Ronaldo centrally. It would have given Madrid more mobility and control on the pitch.

Another instance when Zidane’s tactics were bewildering was after his team levelled the match with 10 men and had only a couple of minutes until the final whistle, but Madrid bombed forward in search of a winner, when the sensible thing to do would have been to just pass the ball around and secure a point.

Madrid have won only one title in the past eight seasons, and are now in danger of blowing another league title. If it does that end up to be the case, then the Clasico defeat would be the main reason for it – and it was a defeat that could have been avoided.