Real Madrid had their 4th practise session of the week on Thursday. They were training at their training ground, Ciudad Real Madrid. From the looks of it, training seems to be going on in full swing.
Real Madrid training session
Real Madrid focussed on bringing up the fitness of each of their players. The Madrid side has been tailoring the regimes based on the physical condition of specific players. Yesterday's training session saw the Real Madrid players being involved in rondos.
The Real Madrid players were also not holding back on contact while chasing the ball. They did this in small groups of 10. Prominent among the players taking part in the rondos were Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard, Vinicius Jr, etc.
The Real Madrid players were also involved in matches of football tennis. They played doubles games with Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, James Rodriguez and Lucas Vazquez finishing off points with flamboyant bicycle kicks.
This showed that Real Madrid were having fun while training and took away from the morbid reality of the COVID-19 crisis. Real Madrid will be confident on their chances of regaining the La Liga title from Barcelona's grasps after the restart of football in Spain.
Real Madrid in the league
Real Madrid are currently 2nd in the La Liga table, just 2 points behind Barcelona after 27 games played. Real Madrid are on 56 points with 16 wins, eight draws and three defeats. They have built their success on their sturdy defence.
Real Madrid's defence has conceded just the 19 goals in 27 games. This amounts to them conceding just 0.7 goals per game. This goals conceded tally makes them one of the most rigid defences in Europe's top 5 leagues.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has also shown some strings to his bow, in how he's managed to coach a competent defence. Real Madrid, during his Champions League three-peat, have been known to thrive in chaos.
They had also shown some vulnerabilities in defence during that run. Zidane added defensive powerhouses in Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao to bring that steel to the team.
Real Madrid, though, have shown vulnerabilities in attack, with Eden Hazard having fitness issues for the majority of the season. They have scored just the 49 goals in 27 games, amounting to 1.8 goals per game.
They have needed Karim Benzema to bail them out of situations. This has resulted in them not winning by more than a single goal margin. Luka Jovic has not justified the outlay spent by Real Madrid.
Real Madrid will be hoping that Hazard comes back to full fitness and turbocharge them to a La Liga title.
La Liga's return to training
La Liga teams have been back to training for close to 2 weeks now. This came following the announcement that La Liga would start from 20th June-26th July. The teams have been trying gear themselves for what will be a whirlwind end to the campaign.