The cover
Machin knew it, as practically all top coaches in Spain and Europe do as well. Real Madrid's left can be attacked, taking advantage of Marcelo's defensive weaknesses. He did it at Girona and he did it again with Sevilla. Two goals came from his side, while the third came from a duel that he lost. Marcelo's attacking contribution is enormous, but he is worrying when defending.
The question
Real Madrid changed in the second half and became more aggressive and less fragile. It looked more natural when Lucas Vazquez was introduced before the hour mark. But, as the minutes passed and Ceballos came on for Modric, there was another turn. Modric was one of the better performers, so why remove him? And Lopetegui wasn't thinking about Atletico...
The racecar
Jesus Navas plays like he did ten years ago, but with the experience of a 32-year-old. His efforts and kilometres covered cannot be questioned. The first two goals came from his side, he is forever young.
A sinkhole
In just two minutes Madrid saw their chances of a comeback first postponed and then aborted. First, VAR showed that Modric had not scored, it was a matter of centimetres. Then, Modric again had an attempt saved by Vaclik at full stretch.
The data
This is the third game for Lopetegui's Madrid against important opposition and they are yet to win. They lost against Atleti in the European Super Cup and dropped points against Athletic. Saturday's derby has become more important.
Fuyaert
92
Does the coach don't have the guts to point out to Ramos that he must fully focused on his defence and not get too much involved in the attack. Seeing most of RM previous games since the departure of Ronaldo, Ramos has become a lot like an attacker or forward. Does the coach not caution him about this? Does Ramos not know that he must help his backline partners(Marcelo, Varane, etc ) and must not act like an attacker? Because of this, Real Madrid conceded many goals.
footballfanatic™
69
The problem is that Ramos, instead of covering Marcelo, also decides to join the attack. Yeah, it's okay to do it a couple of times, but he's constantly in other teams half. Solution to this would be to have Ramos cover the left back position when Marcelo is in the attack and have Casemiro replace Ramos at the center back position.