World news – United States – Immediate reaction: Real Madrid 0-1 Cadiz

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, display personalized content and targeted advertising, analyze site traffic, and understand where our public To learn more or to unsubscribe, read our cookie policy.Please also read our privacy notice and terms of use, which came into effect on December 20, 2019

Real Madrid 0 – 1 Cadiz (Lozano) Here’s our quick reaction to the final whistle Still to come: player ratings, post-match quotes, post-match podcast and more

Following an international break, where several Real Madrid players played heavy minutes, we expected wholesale rotations as the squad welcomed (a very good and disciplined) newly promoted squad to Cadiz Almost all of the players who were not called up to their national teams, except Asensio and Militao (the latter only resumed full training late this week), have started: Marcelo, Courtois, Nacho, Vazquez, Vinicius, Benzema, Isco For the remaining positions in midfield, Zidane chose to start Modric and Kroos on Casemiro and Valverde, both of whom have traveled extensively in South America and at the back

(My hunch is that if Odegaard hadn’t been injured he would have started this match against an exhausted Modric who went full throttle with Croatia in a box-to-box performance against France)

The team suffered a lot during that first half So much so that Zidane made four unprecedented halftime substitutions in an effort to recover from a 1-0 deficit, in a game where Cadiz was by far the strongest team

Cadiz, which is well drilled, as José Perez explained so well here, looked comfortable without the ball No, they thrived without it Their defensive form remained compact and their attack in transition was blitz in the first picture They could hit a fastball at Lozano and create a one-pass break (almost like how the teams exploited Real Madrid’s defensive setup in 2018) To make matters worse, neither Marcelo nor Nacho ‘were on camera on a defensive streak (and Nacho, who recalls Miguel Torres, also seemed disinterested in any attempted attack) Without Casemiro and Fede Valverde there wasn’t much coverage, and Lucas Vazquez and Vinicius weren’t also did not provide cover on the wing. Modric’s death was poor; and Kroos was slow, which didn’t help Isco, in a fluid role, played in front of Modric and Kroos’ double pivot

On Cadiz’s goal, Sergio Ramos let Lozano slide to the side of the goal (and it was far from the only time Cadiz threatened):

OBJECTIVE FOR CADIZ! The visitors draw for the first time as Honduran Anthony Lozano gives them a 1-0 lead in Madrid # RealMadridCadiz LIVE NOW ⬇️ beIN SPORTS CONNECT https: // tco / LRYa03w6yI picTwittercom / b7bEfzCYk3

Real Madrid didn’t compensate offensively, where they struggled to create anything meaningful.In the first half, their scarce offensive sources came from Lucas Vazquez cutting to shoot, or running into the half -space (which Cadiz didn’t care much about), or Isco trying to squeeze through the canals (this again, Cadiz was comfortably in control)

With the submarines, the team’s defense stabilized in the second half, but the attack still couldn’t find a solution Cadiz only consolidated their low block even further, and Real Madrid’s attack was too stagnant when Kroos had the ball high in the area looking for someone to kick In basketball we call it watching the ball

Jovic had a goal ruled out for offside (of course), and Benzema hit the crossbar

It wasn’t fun We’ll break it down (provide you with therapy) a lot more on tonight’s post-game podcast

Real Madrid CF, La Liga, Cádiz CF, Thibaut Courtois, Zinedine Zidane