Real Madrid drew 0-0 at Real Sociedad in their first match of 2020/21 and Julio Maldonado 'Maldini' analysed the game from the Reale Arena afterwards.
The MARCA journalist spoke of how tactically interesting the encounter was and of how he felt that Karim Benzema suffered because of Zinedine Zidane's 4-2-3-1.
"It was a fair draw," Maldini said.
"It was a very interesting match tactically, with Real Madrid playing a 4-2-3-1 with Martin Odegaard, although they struggled to find Odegaard.
"I also found it interesting the way Ferland Mendy played, as he played like he used to when he was at Lyon by playing inside since he knows Vinicius is a very wide type of winger.
"I feel like Benzema didn't have his best game since he was a prisoner of the formation.
"It was tough for him having to drop so deep to receive the ball."
Maldini also discussed the surprising absence of Casemiro, who wasn't in the starting line-up.
"Real Madrid left out Casemiro so that they could have two players there to escape the opposition's pressing, with class players like Toni Kroos and Luka Modric," he pointed out.
"It worked, but then Casemiro had to come on because the game broke down.
"When a game breaks down like that, Real Madrid need Casemiro in the middle.
"That's clear, because he is a player who, defensively, can solve the problems of the spaces that appear."
MzterAdex
273
D point is, we only need a ball playing or holding forward when playing a 4-3-3 formation but whenever we a using a 4-2-3-1 we will need a point man, someone that can score from any little chance, someone who needs only one touch to score and I think Jovic will be better if he was d one who played in that formation cus he scores half chances man. Just my opinion
VAR-IS-SHIT
182
if not benz, who else ? benz was clearly the main attacking force last season, so it is expected to be a bit reliant on him in terms of goalscoring... benzema played bad, but that doesn't mean he will never play good this season... the only advantage real's result gave us is that if we continue to win every match for the next few more or more matchdays, we will leading, but nothing else... we shpuld not get overconfident from their draw, and i hope we win, cuz zizou can change the game anytime