Real Madrid 1-3 Juventus: 5 Talking Points

Modified Apr 11, 2018 21:54 GMT

All rise and bow to the king

#4 Real Madrid miss Karim Benzema dearly

What's up now, Madrid?

For whatever reasons he was given a day off, Karim Benzema not being upfront greatly upset Real Madrid's chances in the final third. Without Benzema, Ronaldo was often an isolated figure in the opposition's half as Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Isco struggled to pick out Ronnie with that final ball.

Without Ronaldo having no one to feed off, he looked a tad too puzzled inside the area and with Bale and Modric conjuring up nothing of note, it looked like Real Madrid's chances on the night rode on keeping Juve from scoring 3 goals.

For all the flak he receives, Karim Benzema is still a vital cog in the Real Madrid system and his excellent link-up play is crucial to their efficiency in the final third.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Amit Mishra