Copa del Rey (Qarter Finals)
Score: 3 – 2
5 February 2025
Stadium: Estadio Municipal de Butarque
First Half Game Analysis
In the starting lineup, we could see Endrick, Brahim, Guler, Asencio, and Lunin as the keeper for this game. A young player was first-time introduced to the team, Jacobo Ramon, as a defender. The main star players were missing. Somehow the young boys managed to win the game and took the team into the semi-final level. Leganes had recently defeated both the giant teams, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. So it was not that easy to beat this team on their own home ground for Real Madrid young players, but somehow they did, and it was a good display by these young players.
The team adopted a 4-3-3 formation for this particular game with the young players. Modric was the captain of the team. This was quite a nervous moment for Ancelotti as he had to gamble with these young players.
In the 2nd minute, Leganes had a dangerous attack from the left, beating Asencio, and the winger had an open ground shot targeting the far pole from inside the box; the ball just missed the pole by a foot only. It was a close call.
About the 4th minute, Valverde fouled the Leganes’ winger by pushing on his face, just outside the box line on the left of the ground. It was a dangerous free kick as it was so close to the post. The shot was well punched away by Lunin to safety, so the dangerous situation was avoided.
Up to the 12th minute of the game, Madrid players were quite well pressing forward and making Leganes players quite difficult to stop their pressure.
In the 13th minute, Brahim passed a good ball to Endrick inside the opposition box, and Endrick did take a shot, overhead ball for the keeper, but the keeper was able to reach the ball with his right hand, and he avoided a good chance for Madrid to score a goal.
In the 15th minute, Madrid got two corner kicks consecutively, but they could not utilize the ball much. This team has not been able to utilize their corner kick opportunities to their advantage much in recent games. This has been their weakness all these games, and the coach needs to focus on improving in this segment too. The accurate throw of the ball into the box, and then how to exploit that ball to convert it into goals. Madrid does not have a great header as we used to have before; we need to do something here too.
In the 17th minute, Leganes had a dangerous attack led from the right winger. The cross ball was thrown from the right, and an attacking player could head the ball; luckily, the ball went wide away toward the left side away from the post. Though Valverde was intercepting him, he could head the ball, though not good enough to direct it into the post. That was quite a fast and good attempt by Leganes, I must admit.
In the 18th minute, the magic happened for the Madrid team as Modric was the one who scored the first goal of the evening for his team. Though Rodrygo and others were attempting from the left side of the ground for several times before, this time too Rodrygo happened to throw a good pass to Modric, and beating some defenders and the keeper, he could slot the ball into the goalpost. This was a good buildup and wise action taken by Rodrygo and Modric. The oldest midfielder in the team scored the goal, though the forwards were full of young talents.
Modric scores a goal
In the 25th minute, with the combination of Rodrygo, Brahim, and Endrick, Madrid scored their 2nd goal. As a lot of close dribbles among the players took place, Brahim pushed the ball towards the goal, but the ball was deflected by a defender, and Endrick, being in the right place, pushed the ball into the goalpost with ease. This being the second goal for Madrid, it somehow provided a great relief for Ancelotti and the team, as with these young players everyone was wondering about the outcomes of the game.
By the 30th minute of the game, Madrid had 3/3 shots on target while Leganes had 1/9.
Endrick took a long ground shot into the post that was not strong enough, and the keeper collected the ball easily. Instead, he should have passed the ball to Güler on the right, and it would have been an ideal pass. At times, Endrick is believed to be selfish, and here he showed the character.
The ball possession was 54% by Madrid and 46% by Leganes.
In the 38th minute, Leganes built up well and attacked from the left side. As the attacking player approached with the ball inside the box, Ramon, the new defender, dashed to block him. The shot ball was clearly touched by Ramon’s right hand, and the immediate penalty ball was given to Leganes. Though Lunin judged the ball right, he could not stop the ball, and Leganes’ scored their first goal.
It was unfortunate for Ramon, as it was his debut game for the team, and he had to suffer to give away a penalty.
In the first half of extra time, Rodrygo was fouled on the left outside the box. The free kick was taken by Rodrygo himself, but his shot was way high above the crossbar. But it could have been a dangerous shot for Leganes if taken well.
Endrick scores 2nd goal
Second Half Game (Real Madrid vs Leganes)
In the second half, Vini substituted Rodrygo and other players, being the same ones.
In the 50th minute, Madrid got a corner kick. The ball was first headed by Valverde, and the headed ball landed near the far post where Vini was. Vini headed the ball, but his headed ball went well over the crossbar for an out ball. If well executed, this ball could have been a dangerous ball for Leganes. Madrid is desperately lacking players with good heading skills; as of now, the team seriously lacks this talent.
Just 2 minutes later, Vini threw a good ball into the box for Endrick. Endrick tried to head the ball, but he could not reach it, and the ball rolled out of the out line. This ball was a real good one, and Endrick’s position was also ideal for this ball to head. But as he could not head the ball, another good chance was missed. Had there been a player with this good heading talent, this could have been another goal-scoring chance for the Madrid team.
In the 58th minute, there was a counterattack led by Guler and Endrick. Guler gave a pass to Endrick; once Endrick was inside the box, he tried to pass the ball to his right to Guler and Brahim, who were available and in good position. But his pass was well blocked by a defender, and the ball went out of the out line for a corner kick for Madrid.
Once again the same misfortune happened with Endrick heading the ball. The corner kick ball was well thrown, and it was headed by Endrick, but he could not give it a good direction, so the ball was sent over the crossbar. He was neither blocked by any defender; he had an open ball to head. Had Endrick been a good header, he was in a good position to head the ball well into the box, and the chance of scoring a goal was very high. If one cannot score a goal in such situations, how and when will one be able to score goals for his team?
In the 59th minute, Leganes built an attack from the left of the box, and the striker’s shot was blocked by the feet of Mendy, but that deflected ball dodged Lunin too, and the ball found its place inside the post. With this goal, the score became even, two goals for each team.
Valverde’s solo attempt in the 61st minute was quite praiseworthy, but the ground ball shot tried from the right flank went wide from the far post. He is a hard-working player and does whatever possible there is to be done.
By this time, shots on target were 5/9 for Madrid, while that of Leganes was 3/14.
Vini got a ball on the left flank from Guler, and he was inside the box chased by two defenders in the 64th minute. He went right up to the near post pole in a very tight situation, and he tried to slot the ball into the post, but his ball got deflected by the keeper and the pole and went out of the line for a corner ball. It was a great attempt by Vini and his superior skill to try to beat the keeper in such a tight angle with two defenders by the side. He almost got successful in scoring a goal.
The corner ball was headed by Valverde, but the ball landed right in the hands of the keeper, causing no danger at all for Leganes.
The last 10 minutes or so, Madrid had been pressing hard toward the Leganes goal post but without any success. In the 68th minute, Vini again took a ground shot at the post from inside the box from the left, but his shot lacked power, and the keeper easily grabbed the ball.
In the 70th minute, Vini again led a good attack from the left of the post, and his ground ball shot rolled away, missing the post by a foot or so toward the right side of the box where no Madrid players were available to take the good opportunity. The lack of timely support on the right side was missing, or again, it could have been a good chance for Madrid. Endrick was way back standing while he should have been parallel to Vini, waiting for the ball at this instance of the game.
In the 74th minute, there was a beautiful buildup between Brahim and Vini. Vini on the left passed the ball into the box for Brahim, and Brahim took the ball and only needed to beat the keeper, so he flicked the ball over the keeper to send it into the box. It was a good try, unfortunately, the ball just hit the crossbar, and the ball went away to safety. It was a simple and good understanding between the two players, but it could not work out.
Guler was substituted by Ceballos in the 75th minute. Well, Guler had stopped influencing the game lately, so it was good for his replacement.
Ramon got the yellow card for his tackle on the Leganes player.
Two minutes later, Vini too got a yellow card for playing a foul on an opposition player.
Fran Garcia and Gonzalo Garcia, a new and younger player debut, substituted Endrick and Mendy about the 82nd minute of the game. Some fresh legs to create some better chances to score goals, as for a long time the scoreboard had been the same. Madrid desperately needed to score and stay ahead as they had already lost points in the previous game.
Leganes ground ball shot from a distance was well blocked by Lunin, and they did get a corner at the 84th minute. The corner ball was headed by a Leganes player that fell on the lap of Fran Garcia, who tried to clear it with his body and knee, which caused the ball to land into the hands of Lunin. But there was a doubt about being penalized for Fran’s hand possibly having touched the ball, but the replay showed that was not the case.
There was a serious tension in the Real Madrid camp as the time was passing, and the team did not want to go for an extra time game.
Modric got a yellow card too for tackling an opposition player in the 86th minute. The tension was mounting on these players.
About the 88th minute, Tchouameni tried two shots from a distance, but his shots were blocked by defenders, causing no damage at all.
Madrid got a corner kick in the 89th minute. Modric threw a good ball, and it was headed by Tchouameni, but the ball precisely landed in the hand of the goalkeeper. Another good opportunity was missed by Madrid, and the time was ticking fast.
Brahim took a good shot into the goalpost a minute later, but this ball too was well stopped by the keeper. A few seconds later, Valverde tried his classic long-distance powerful shot; again, that too was blocked by the keeper, and the rebounded ball was again shot by Ceballos, which flew way high above the post. That rebound ball was a good chance to capitalize on, but it could not be.
There was a constant threat created by Madrid players about the goalpost of Leganes.
Three minutes of extra time were added for this game.
In the extra time of the 93rd minute, as Madrid was pressing on and building the pressure on the Leganés goalpost, from the right flank Brahim threw the high ball into the box, and among the two Madrid players in the area. It was Gonzalo who headed the ball precisely into the goalpost away from the keeper, and that sealed the victory for Real Madrid in the dying minute of the game. It was the young and debut player, Gonzalo Garcia, who headed the ball as a must and sealed their 3 points of this game. The way this guy headed the ball was superb; he was in the air and directed the ball as a skillful player right into the precise placement into the targeted spot. This skill was very much missing among the other players, and so they were unable to score goals even after getting chance after chance.
Gonzalo’s dying minute’s goal
Real Madrid Performance
This new player Gonzalo seemed to have at least this one good skill that so many other senior players were missing, the good header skill. And this skill of his was the reason for this victory at the end.
The team’s overall performance was just good enough even with so many young and inexperienced players on the team. They created many chances, but they were not sharp enough to convert such chances into goals. The sharpest thing a big team should do is to convert whatever chances they get into goals. That is the only way to beat other teams, particularly the big teams, as you get fewer chances with the bigger team. Madrid lacked that sharpness to convert chances into goals. They could do so only after several attempts, which is poor performance for bigger games.
The handball giveaway was a bit silly, though, and the defense looked thus far alright. In the defense, we need to work and find a stronger and more dynamic team to strengthen further to face stronger and better teams.
In this game, forwards created some innovative ways to penetrate the defense, and that created many chances for the team. This innovative skill is very much needed in the team. The one reason we lost to Espanyol was lack of this innovation in that game. We relied only on wingers to press the ball into the center, while this technique works only 50% of the time. Thus, with varying skills in attack, the team can surprise the opposition and score goals.
Players Performance
Though Endrick got enough playtime, he could not be at his best. He missed a couple of good chances to score goals. The one he scored was not that of a quality one; it was on his way and an easy one to score.
Ramon looked a bit nervous and shaky in the game. He cannot be relied on for bigger game as he does not look that strong and agile enough.
Mendy’s performance has been much criticized, and he was not as effective in the game as he should have been. The players seemed sluggish and lacked energy.
Vini did create some good chances after the halftime as he was introduced, but still he needs to control his emotions as much as possible. He did have a bad argument with the captain, Modric, that was a bad sign for the team.
Brahim and Valverde were the two players who always worked hard and the same in this game too. They work their 100 percent all through the game, and this must be appreciated.
Statistics
Real Madrid Leganes
Goals 3 2
Ball Possession 59% 41%
Shots on Target 12 4
Corner Kicks 7 3
Offsides 1 1
Fouls 13 15
Yellow Cards 3 1
Passes 531 396