He Real Madrid breathes. After a disastrous week in which the defeat against Athletic in the Super Cup and the historic elimination against Alcoyano in Copa del Rey, the whites found in Mendizorroza the long-awaited calm after the storm.
Those of Zidane, this time directing the game through a call with Bettoni, not only won giving a good image, something not very common this season, but they did in a way his fans had almost forgotten, with a thrashing. The 1-4 achieved against Alavés is the second time that Madrid have scored four or more goals this season. The whites had only scored so many goals in the victory for 4-1 to Huesca on October 31, a match that in addition to the result bears many similarities to the one held in Vitoria. That day Benzema also scored two goals, Hazard scored the first of his two goals in the league and a midfielder, Valverde, completed the win.
After 19 league games, the group stage of the Champions League has been overcome and the team's participation in both the Cup and the Super Cup has already ended, for a total of 27 matches, It is striking that Madrid has only achieved beat the opponent's goal at least four times in just two games. One of the great evils of whites in recent years, since the departure of Cristiano, is the lack of gunpowder, but this season it is even more evident.
Less gunpowder than the last four seasons
In the season 19-20 those of Zidane got score for four or more goals on up to six occasions, four in LaLiga, and once in the Champions League and in the Cup. 18-19, a very unstable season in which up to three coaches sat on the bench, the number of wins increased to 10, benefiting above all from the performance in the Copa del Rey that still had the two-legged format and where the team beat Melilla 0-4 and 6-1 and Girona in the first leg of the quarterfinals 4-2. In addition, the team scored four or more goals in five league games, one of the Champions League and in the final of the Club World Cup.
In the 17-18, the last course of the first stage of Zidane, there were a total of nine goals, yes, eight were in the league and one in the Champions League. And finally in the 16-17 in which the coveted doublet was raised, the whites went to a total of 16 games in which they scored four or more goals, ten in the league, three in the Champions League (including the final against Juventus), two in the Cup and one in the Mundialito. A season that undoubtedly shows the offensive potential that Madrid had not so long ago in the heyday of the BBC.
To continue in this dynamic, Madrid this year would end the year with just four goals, a very poor figure for what his fans are used to. Without goals a very solid block is needed, like the one seen in the resumption of last season, to qualify for titles and the The team's defensive irregularity in recent weeks is making the lack of spark even more evident from the team above.
Light years from the greats of Europe
With 34 goals the whites are the third highest scoring team in the league championship, behind the 39 from Barça and 36 from Atlético, the latter with one game less. Yes, the colchoneros (eight) have conceded half the goals than Madrid (sixteen), giving value with their defense to the goals achieved.
These figures are far from those harvested by the great European teams. In Germany the Bayern Munich (49) far surpasses Madrid, but it is that in addition to three other teams, the Borussia Dortmund (35), Borussia Monchengladbach (35) and the Jovic's Eintracht Frankfurt (35) they have better scoring figures.
The same occurs in Italy, where Inter (45), Atalanta (44) –Madrid rival in Champions-, Rome (41), Naples (40), Milan (39) and Juventus (37) They see more doors than Zidane's men. In Ligue 1, the PSG continues to demonstrate its great potential with 48 goals, and they follow him Monaco (42), Lyon (39) and Lille (35) above the 34 of Madrid. Only the greats of the Premier seem to be going through the same difficulties as the meringues with the Liverpool (37), Manchester United (36) and the Leicester (35), leading the table of teams with the highest scorers.
Total, 18 teams from the five major leagues are proving to have more gunpowder than the men of -now- Valdebebas. A piece of information that shows the problems that the team is having both to generate chances and to convert them.
Benzema, all alone
The scoring responsibility rests solely on Benzema's shoulders that with his double from yesterday already takes 15 goals this season, 10 of them in the league. After him, you have to go until Casemiro's five to find the second top scorer, the statistics of the rest of the team's attackers being bleeding. Vinicius and Hazard have three goals each, in front of Rodrygo, Asensio, Mariano who have only seen the door once.
Real Madrid still miss Cristiano Ronaldo's goals a lot. The more than 100 million that were paid by Hazard, lJovic's 60 or Mariano's 20 have not filled the hole that was created with the march of the Portuguese. For more inri, Jovic has already scored three goals in the 76 minutes he has played at Eintracht spread over three parties.
Against Alavés, Madrid once again reminded their fans of what it was to score, in a match that also left great news such as the level of Modric, Kroos and Benzema, but especially the performance of Eden Hazard. The team should try to get into a good scoring dynamic from now on to continue adding points three by three. If not, and in light of the defensive irregularity, it will be very difficult to fight for the two titles in which they are still alive.