Two games, one point.
That, ladies and gentleman, is Real Madrid’s worst ever start to a Champions League campaign in the competition’s history (as we know it), and Marca label it a ‘critical situation’.
The newspaper dedicate seven pages to Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw at home to Club Brugge, which saw Zinedine Zidane’s men needing to make up a two goal deficit after the Belgian side were 2-0 up at half time.
Before diving into more detail, we’ll take a quick look at the player ratings given to us by Marca, and it’s not pretty on the Real Madrid side.
Casemiro, who scored a header to save a point in the 85th minute, is rated their ‘best player’ with two stars, while Thibaut Courtois (who came off at half-time), Raphaël Varane and Nacho all picked up a zero out of five.
Over on the Brugge side, Dennis Bonaventure, who scored the two goals for the Belgians, was given the man of the match award with three stars.
Other than the result, the big talking point was Zidane’s decision to take off his starting goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois and bring on Paris Saint-Germain loanee Alphonse Aréola for the second half.
Many reports have since surfaced as to why that happened, with concurring claims the Belgium international was ill, and La Sexta (relayed by Mundo Deportivo) saying he had a stomach problem, causing him to throw up in the dressing room.
This latest problem won’t have helped his stock in the eyes of Real Madrid fans, and while he wasn’t exactly to blame for the two goals he conceded in the first-half, he ‘could have done more’, according to columnist Carlos Carpio, and was ‘very far from being his team’s saviour’.
He then compares the Belgian to their rivals’ goalkeeper, Jan Oblak and Marc-André ter Stegen, and state Courtois doesn’t give the impression of being an ‘impenetrable wall’, which the other two do.
That’s just one column, as José Vicente Hernáez points out it was Areola who ‘saved Madrid from a loss’, stopping the La Liga side from going 3-0 down, and allowing them to kick off a comeback that should never have been needed in the first place.
We are then served a long article from J.L. Calderón, who points out Courtois ‘has a problem with the Bernabéu’, as they don’t have the same affinity towards him as they had with the ‘hero of the last three Champions Leagues’ Keylor Navas, since transferred to Paris Saint-Germain.
Areola’s performance now only ‘intensifies the debate’, one Zidane thought he might not have to deal with when Navas left, as it’s clear Courtois is meant to be the number one at Madrid, even if he isn’t in the best of form.
Moving on from the goalkeepers, the whole situation around the club in the European competition is becoming worrying, as this Real Madrid side are somehow top of La Liga, unbeaten, but unable to function properly outside of it, first losing 3-0 to Paris Saint-Germain and now struggling to a draw against Club Brugge.
Next up is Galatasaray away, which is never an easy fixture, and if Zidane’s men cannot pick up the three points there, serious questions will need to be asked as the club’s future in the competition will be put in serious jeopardy.
