#4 Los Blancos have lots of work to do to keep title aspirations alive
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Real Madrid are targeting their first La Liga title in five years, an honour that has eluded them since 2012 with the Catalans dominating the trophy haul in recent times and even the Madridistas’ rivals from across the city managing to win one.
The Los Blancos ended last week on a high with 16 consecutive wins under Zidane, equalling Pep Guardiola’s record at Barcelona. However, they were given a rude wake-up call midweek by another team in yellow – Villarreal. At the Bernabeu on Wednesday, Real drew 1-1 against Fran Escribá’s team courtesy of a poor first half showing and a shaky defence.
There was little evidence on Saturday night to suggest Real had heeded that call and things had changed for the better. They continued from where they had left off on Wednesday; a decent second half failed to make up for the highly unimpressive first half where they didn’t make the best of some gilt-edged chances.
On a day when Barcelona reasserted their threat by making mincemeat of 10-man Sporting Gijon despite missing the injured Lionel Messi in attack, Real didn’t do enough to salvage their position at the top of the table by dropping two more crucial points in the span of four days.
There is no doubt about the Blancos’ title ambitions but to lend it any credence, they have a lot of work to do – across the length and breadth of the pitch.
