Real Madrid on red alert before Man City match

Bernabeu witnessed Real Madrid collapse in a way that exposed all the problems: low morale, deadlocked tactics and a coach who had yet to find his identity.

Real Madrid didn’t just lose to Celta Vigo. They were brought back down to earth in a way that exposed the fragility of the team and of Xabi Alonso himself. Four days earlier, three goals at San Mames against Athletic Bilbao had given the impression the team were on the right track. But that illusion vanished with incredible rapidity.

From being five points ahead of Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid are now four points behind their arch-rivals. That gap is not just a number. It reflects a decline in intensity, spirit and strategy. On the slippery Bernabeu pitch in the early morning of December 8, Real Madrid entered the match as if it was not for them.

No pressing, no speed, no signals of a team that knows it is competing for the championship. For more than an hour, the white team ran half-heartedly, lacking ideas in attack and slow in defense.

Xabi Alonso stood on the touchline like a man searching for a way out in the dark. His adjustments, bringing on Rodrygo, then Gonzalo, felt more like forced movements than a change of pace.

Real Madrid were only alive because of one thing: the chaos that referee Alejandro Quintero inadvertently created. Controversial decisions ignited emotions in the stands and brought a sleeping team back to the game. But it was not courage, it was a knee-jerk reaction.

Amid the chaos, only Tchouameni and Vinicius have maintained a respectable level of performance. The rest have sunk into disrepair. Injuries have decimated the squad, and now a red card. The season is long, but signs of decline have emerged just as City prepare to set foot in Madrid in 72 hours.

A defeat is sometimes just a stumble. But for Real Madrid, the defeat to Celta was like a mirror pointing out the things they try to avoid: a lack of sharpness, a lack of intensity, and a Xabi Alonso still struggling to find his identity as a coach at the highest level.

It not only raises the question. It forces Real Madrid to respond, immediately.

Source: https://znews.vn/real-madrid-bao-dong-do-truoc-gio-dau-man-city-post1609389.html