Real Madrid vs AC Milan

Champion’s League Match

Score  1 –  3

5 November 2024

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

First Half Game Analysis

 

 

In this round, Real Madrid faced another giant team, AC Milan. Real needed to win this match as they are low on the Champions League table. 

Before the kickoff, there was a minute of silence dedicated to the victims of the flood that recently occurred in Valencia, Spain. 

Madrid’s keeper was Lunin and they were playing a 4-3-3 formation. Luca Modric took the captaincy for Madrid.

Mbappe took his first shot at the post in the third minute of the game. He shot the ball from the right, targeting the far post, but it went wide and out. 

Milan led the attack in the 5th minute from the left wing and the captain, Hernandez, could not get a proper shot so the ball was easily caught by the Lunin. 

In the 6th minute, Mbappe got a pass from Valverde in the box and a good opportunity, but the ball was too fast for him, and he could not touch the ball to manipulate it for a shot. Immediately, Madrid got a free kick for a foul on Mbappe. The shot was taken by Modric, but the ball was stopped by the keeper with no danger to Milan. 

In the 12th minute, Milan scored a goal by heading the corner ball. The header player, though being between Militao and Tchouameni, got the ball and sent it into the post while Lunin stood helpless. It was a shock to the team and the fans, as there was a high hope from the team this time. 

Already we can notice the left winger causing a serious threat to Madrid as Vazquez could not match the speed of the winger, Leo of Milan. 

Just a minute later, Mbappe led a counter-attack and he got to shoot the ball too, again the ball was well blocked by the keeper. It seemed that Mbappe just kept hitting the keeper, and just could not judge the post and keeper’s position while shooting the ball. This flaw of Mbappe had caused terrible loss in the classico and I hoped not in this game too. 

About 30 seconds later, Vini got a chance to convert a shot into a goal, but his shot was too weak and too slow and the keeper could get hold of the ball easily. This is one weakness of Vini that time and again his goal shots are either too weak or wind up out of the post. His shots with Barcelona had similar endings. He needs to focus on to improve precision and power in his goal shots. 

In the 21st minute, Bellingham passed the ball inside the box for Vini, but Vini was fouled by a defender while trying to get the ball, and a penalty was awarded. Vini took an easy penalty and he scored a goal and the score was leveled 1-1. 

Bellingham took the ball inside the box on the right in the 29th minute of the game and he shot the cross ball, but the ball rolled parallel and there was nobody to take it. This Bellingham ball was meant for whom as there was none around to pick it up, rather he should have given the ball a little behind where Mbappe and Vini were lurking. So again proper coordination and precise passes were missing, and such mistakes led to failure to score goals even after getting multiple chances in the box area. Sharp and precise coordination was definitely lacking among the Madrid forwards currently in the team which made them pay the heavy price of crucial matches loss. 

In the 31st minute, Lunin saved two goal shots of Milan one after the other. In the second defending, while punching away the ball by jumping, he clashed with a Milan player and he was hurt a bit. Milan was demanding a penalty, but with VAR it was clear no penalty. Lunin did a good job within this one minute twice saving dangerous balls towards his goal post. 

Vini had an embarrassing show at one instance, as he was slightly stepped over by Milan’s keeper in the box, Vini took 3 somersaults as if in great pain. This was too funny and embarrassing to a team like Real Madrid: the team should stay away from such gimmicks and false shows.

In the 39th minute, Tchouameni mis-pass caused a 2nd goal for Milan. A Milan attacker got to take a shot into the post, the ball was well blocked by Lunin, but the deflected ball was very quickly picked up by rushing Morata, a Milan forward, and he sent the ball into the post with ease though Lunin did try for it too. As we see Morata rushed forward for the ball, on the other hand, Madrid players were seen as very passive and had no action or attempt to drive away the deflected ball. The Madrid defenders just remained rooted as spectators. This was an extremely serious fault in Madrid’s defense. The players seemed very passive and non-reactive in such situations in the game. 

In the 44th minute, Militao passed the ball for Mbappe to counterattack. Mbappe ran with the ball closely followed by two defenders and inside the box on the right flank, he shot the ball well, but the ball was again blocked by the goalkeeper. The angle was too tight for Mbappe so the keeper could well block the ball. 

I think Mbappe’s almost all shots from this right side have been well blocked by the keepers in this match as well as in previous games with Barcelona and Dortmund. Mbappe had been mis-positions so he could not find the target again and again. The coach needs to think and decide regarding this matter sooner the better. 

Another area where Madrid needs to improve is corner kick. These days Modric is taking the corner kicks and he has not been able to deliver good balls as by Kroos. If you can not deliver good balls, then you lose a good chance of scoring goals by corner kicks. Madrid needs to find a good corner ball taker in the team. 

In the first half game, I think Milan played well, they were well coordinated, with compact defense, and swift attacks. Madrid lacked good coordination among the players, attack was lacking, and players seemed very passive in the game. The 2nd goal would not have been possible if the players were active and alert. Except for some attacks, Mbappe was not much involved in the game. Vini too remained very ineffective till the end of 1st half of the game. 

Second Half-Game Analysis

In the second half, Valverde and Tchouameni were replaced with Brahim and Camavinga. Madrid team was certainly lacking the players: Kroos, Carvajal, and Courtois. 

Bellingham got to shoot in the 47th minute, but the ball went way high above the bar, and also he was offside anyway. Again series of mistakes and miscalculations such as these do not help the team to win games. But I must admit that Bellingham was the one player who was working hard for his team and doing every possible he could do for his team. 

Milan had a good heading ball into the post in the 52nd minute, Lunin superbly saved the goal once again. Madrid goalpost looked very vulnerable to the opposition team again and again. 

In the 56th minute, while Madrid was playing the very high game, twice Milan got the opportunity to attack almost one to one situation, but somehow Madrid’s defenders could divert both dangers. So Milan was creating opportunities for themselves while Madrid though trying to build up attack, their all attempts had been foiled by Milan’ tight defense well so far in the game. 

In the 62nd minute, Madrid built up a good attack, Mbappe had a close shot, but the shot went far away by the right post. For some time Mbappe had been playing on the left side and Vini in the middle, by switching the positions they hoped to get a better result, I thought. 

Modric was substituted by Ceballos in the 63rd minute. Soon Vini gave a good cross pass to Mbappe and he could barely kick the ball, and the ball went too high above the bar. But this was the sort of passes Mbappe needed to score goals for his team. So Madrid needed to feed such balls to forward to produce good results in the game. 

In the 73rd minute, while Madrid had been struggling to build up attacks, Milan found a quite easy build-up and found the back of the Madrid net and scored 3rd goal of the evening. I have never seen Madrid’s defense so vulnerable and easy for the opponent team to penetrate as if on their whims; while it was just the other way round for Madrid. Again the attack was from the left wing where Madrid lacked in defense. Though Vazquez followed the attacking player, Leao, Vazquez was no match for Leao. Definitely, the absence of Carvajal was proving in this game too like in El Clasico. 

In the 74th minute, Bellingham and Mendy were substituted by Rodrygo and Fran Garcia. Well, after the break substitution, not much impact could be made by the substituted players in the game thus far. 

In the 81st minute, Madrid got a golden moment, Ceballos’s cross ball was punched away by the Milan goalkeeper, and the ball was well received by Rudiger who shot the ball superbly into the Milan net for a goal. But there was a doubt of Rudiger being offside, and the goal was dismissed as an offside goal. As far as I see in the replay, Rudiger seemed to be in line with Milan’s player. Well the VAR showed the right positions I hoped. 

Madrid’s luck was certainly well-shadowed that night. In the 88th minute, Milan was very dangerously on the counter-attack, Hernandez, the captain, gave a good cross pass from the left wing. The upcoming attacker was followed by two Madrid defenders, but the attacking player could get to kick the ball toward the post. Luckily, Lunin heroically blocked the ball and denied Milan’s almost 4th goal of the game. 

So, Milan was able to get Madrid’s open goal again and again during the game, and for this reason, Madrid had been punished for this negligence. It was just the opposite on the other side of the post. Though most of the game was played in Milan’s half and Madrid had been trying their best to find some crack in Milan’s defense; it was Milan who found Madrid’s post a kind of guardless and easy to attack time and again with ease. 

Vinius got to head the ball by close to the post in the 89th minute. But his heading was so poor and directionless, the ball dwindled by the left post for an out ball. It was an open attempt except for the keeper, there was no defender around and he could have easily scored a goal for Madrid in this dying minute of the game. 

There was extra time of 6 minutes added and Madrid led constant attack. In the 91st minute, Vini threw the ball into the box and Brahim could head the ball all by himself and only to defeat the keeper. Unfortunately, the keeper could block the ball by his left hand and thus foiled this golden chance for Madrid. If Brahim could send the ball a little sideways, that could have a sure goal, but it could not be done so. Though some chances came by for Madrid, they could not be converted into goals. It was just not the day for Real Madrid. 

In the 93rd minute, Militao too spoiled a good chance of scoring a goal. Vini passed the ball from left toward Militao who was slightly right of the post. He got the ball and was free to shoot as no defender was close by to intercept him. But his shot was a way high in the air pointlessly and like I said, time and again, they had been directionless and precisionless in their goal shots. This lack of skill of precision in shots had cost them El Clasico and this champion’s league match. Without this skill, however well they might play in the field, they will be unable to score goals, particularly with big teams, and no doubt the results will be as disastrous as the ones that we have been experiencing currently. 

In the 95th minute, Mbappe got to shoot the ball toward the post from just outside the box. His shot was quite powerful, a Milan defender headed away the ball, but at the same time, he too fell to the ground as the shot was too painful for him to bear. If he had not headed that ball, it was heading for the far top corner, and with that kind of power and speed, the keeper could not have stopped that ball and it was a good chance for a goal. 

Sadly the game ended 1- 3 for Real Madrid at home ground. Madrid conceded 7 goals in just 2 matches at home ground, while Madrid had not lost a game in more than a year till these games in their home ground. We noticed two obvious points: precision in goal-scoring ability among forwards, and total defense lapse by defenders. 

Madrid seriously needs to fix their right defender, much better than Vazquez. The compact team play is lacking as most people agree, and this is more so for the forward players. The forwards need to focus on precision in their shots, as though Madrid got lots of chances, but they were unable to convert those shots into goals. While the teams with fewer shots got more goals and won the game. 

Mbappe could play better in his own position as a left winger and might be able to shoot the ball with more precision. As we have seen his shots from the right-side position were useless. Mbappe lacked defensive support as most people are claiming. He must involved as a team and try to have very close understanding of the game with his teammates. 

One clear flaw among Madrid players is that when they lose the ball, they easily give up and do not follow and try to snatch it back. If you do not attempt, the other team gets comfortable and has easy control of the game and follows their game plan. So this tendency should be stopped, and as much try to snatch back the ball or, at least, keep the other team disturbed by chasing the ball. 

Let us all fans hope Ancelotti finds out all these shortcomings in the team and rectifies them as soon as possible, and so that the team can play much better games with superior skill and more confidence and keep winning the games as they should in all upcoming games.

The statistics of this game show that Real Madrid did not play the game that bad, but the scoreboard tells a different story of the game. 

Statistics:

Real Madrid                     AC Milan

57%     Ball Possession     43%

23        Total Shots              14

10         Shots on Target    9

8           Corner Kicks         5

2           Off Sides                 2

11         Fouls                        9

6           Saves                       9

4          Yellow Card          2

93%     Pass Accuracy     88%

 

Source: scorevisit.com