Still No Win In Pre-Season, Real Madrid Can’t Find Right Direction Under Zidane

Still No Win In Pre-Season, Real Madrid Can’t Find Right Direction Under Zidane

Tottenham beat Real Madrid 1-0 in Munich as the Audi Cup got underway on Tuesday afternoon.

Zinedine Zidane’s side failed to bounce back from an embarrassing 7-3 defeat to local rivals Atletico Madrid, going down to Harry Kane’s winner midway through the first half.

Madrid have looked out of sorts throughout the pre-season campaign, and although they were slightly sharper than their last outing, concerns over their readiness for the new season will continue to circulate.

Here are five things we learned from Real Madrid third pre-season loss.

Real Madrid not the real

Real just do not look like Real. Aside from short bursts, they were seen off by Tottenham, who admittedly have more miles in their legs.

One minute Luka Modric was blasting shots wide, the next Karim Benzema was missing an open goal. Harry Kane’s opener came after a defensive rooster-up from Marcelo and he should have doubled the lead following yet another error by the same man.

Yes, it is pre-season. Yes, there will be rust, but this was next level shoddiness from a club we expect more from. Zinedine Zidane has work on his hands. At least Sergio Ramos picked up a yellow card.

Real Madrid need to gather momentum quickly

Real’s only pre-season win so far came against Arsenal via a penalty shootout. Aside from that they have lost to Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid (in humiliating fashion) and Tottenham, sides they could come up against in the Champions League this season.

Arguably more concerning than the pre-season results, which in truth are rather unimportant, has been the lack of energy on show amid the Madrid players. Particularly in the first half, Spurs had far more zip about them. It was as if the Londoners had played more warm-up games than their opponent when in fact they’ve had fewer.

Zidane’s men picked up the pace after the break but there is still a sense of worry going into the La Liga curtain-raiser. Madrid need to gather momentum quickly before the campaign begins or they risk starting slowly and losing ground on title rivals Barcelona at a dangerously early stage.

Hazard shows promise but goals will be expected

Still getting used to his new surroundings, Eden Hazard can be excused for not hitting the ground running in a Madrid shirt. The Belgian showed signs of promise against one of his old adversaries, typically finding space for a couple of shots with some fine shimmying but failing to find the net.

He came closest to scoring in the second half, evading his markers and getting to a second ball first but seeing a low shot blocked by Spurs youngster Japhet Tanganga. The Real Madrid fans will be hoping Hazard finds his clinical edge sooner rather than later.

Having hit the 20-goal mark for the first time last season, Hazard will be expected to be one of Real’s main goal sources this term, which puts extra pressure on the 28-year-old’s shoulders. It will intriguing to see how he deals with it.