European Spotlight: Villains from the weekend around Europe's football leagues

Real Madrid’s ‘mean’ defence

Carlo Ancelotti left the game against Rayo Vallecano a disgruntled man. For his team had yet again, flirted with danger, and almost dropped vital points in the title race. His star man Cristiano Ronaldo did his thing with aplomb, scoring a brace, and putting Real in the best possible position to win, ably assisted by Gareth Bale.

Madrid’s defence though has been a shambles and has been costing them games all year and undoing all of the good work done by their forwards. It is something that needs to be fixed if Real are to get their title challenge on track as they cannot be putting games at peril with their calamitous defending.