Real Madrid From Hazard’s injuries to defensive absences
Real Madrid win 2-1 over Villarreal on Thursday night they were confirmed as champions of LaLiga Santander for the 2019/20 season.
It has been an impressive change for Los Blancos, who went through several difficult times throughout the campaign to lift the trophy.
“This is the league of the fight against adversities. It is the most difficult that has ever existed.” Florentino Pérez he said while celebrating the title in the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium.
We have seen the 10 adversities that Zinedine Zidane and his players have outperformed this season.
Neither the results nor the performances caused optimism last summer, with a 7-3 loss to Atletico Madrid in New Jersey, a definitely low point.
“The season is going to be a good one,” insisted Zidane, who turned out to be right.
As part of that preseason tour of the United States, Marco Asensio suffered a severe knee injury during a friendly with Arsenal.
The Spanish was supposed to play a key role under Zidane, but was ruled out for much of the season.
Gareth Bale scored twice against Villarreal on the third day of LaLiga Santander, but that was it.
His two-goal count for the season is less than 543 players in Europe’s top five leagues.
Eden Hazard was integral to Zidane’s rebuilding task, but missed most of the season due to injury.
The former Chelsea player suffered two ankle injuries and, even when he was involved at the beginning and end of the season, he was not in top form.
Real Madrid traveled to Galatasaray for their third match in the group stage of the Champions League having drawn one and losing one of the previous two.
With growing doubts about Zidane’s position and talking about José Mourinho’s return, Los Blancos emerged unscathed.
“I think Zidane deserves more respect after what he has done for Real Madrid,” said Sergio Ramos at the time.
In a couple of weeks in February, the wheels fell off for Real Madrid.
They surrendered first place in LaLiga Santander after drawing with Celta Vigo and losing to Levante, while Manchester City defeated them at home in the Champions League.
The three-month gap between Real Madrid’s defeat against Real Betis and the victory over Eibar was a struggle for everyone.
Returning to action in June, Real Madrid decided to play their remaining matches at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium while the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium was rebuilt.
There were questions about how well Zidane’s men would adapt to playing on different terrain, but so far they have won all six games there.
Injuries and suspensions have seen the faces change in Zidane’s defense in the closing weeks of the season.
The French coach improvised at times, with Ferland Mendy playing as right back, Eder Militao standing out as center back at San Mamés and Lucas Vázquez completing as right back.
As refereeing decisions seemed to be going their way, Real Madrid faced a barrage of comments from rivals and opponents.
Rather than get involved, Zidane and his players preferred to keep their mouths shut and let others complain.
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