Real Madrid 1-1 Athletic Bilbao: 5 Talking Points

#4 Real Madrid lack control in midfield without Casemiro

Real Madrid failed to dominate the midfield without Casemiro

After having played him in back to back wins over Juventus and Malaga, Zinedine Zidane opted to rest Casemiro in this one. With one eye on Tuesday's clash against Bayern Munich, the holding midfielder was put on the bench and he remained an unused substitute.

But without him in the side, Real Madrid struggled to grab a hold of the midfield proceedings. Both Toni Kroos and Luka Modric aren't the best at work done without the ball which was evident against Athletic Bilbao. Without Casemiro, too much of the workload was put on Kroos and Modric which led to them having a quiet night.

Bilbao players were going past Kroos with ease in the first half with one such incident resulting in the first goal. Inigo Cordoba was left unmarked by the Madrid midfield and then played a through ball to Inaki Williams to score Bilbao's opener.

This game, quite simply, proved Casemiro's underlying importance to this Real Madrid side.