Real Madrid fail to shine in draw with Athletic Bilbao

Real Madrid’s perfect start to the La Liga season was ended with an evenly contested 1-1 draw away to Athletic Bilbao this past Saturday.

Nowhere in the soccer world do the stars shine quite as brightly as they shine at Real Madrid. The club’s history is littered with luminous names. From Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas to Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, the Santiago Bernabeu has essentially functioned as the world’s preeminent planetarium.

That may be changing slightly, however. Cristiano Ronaldo is gone. So are his shirtless celebrations, his mesmerizing step-overs, and his goals (his many, many goals). And despite a few rumors to the contrary, neither Eden Hazard nor Neymar (nor any other major outfield player, for that matter) arrived at Real this summer to attempt to replace Ronaldo’s incomparable influence on or off the pitch.

There are still megawatt players at Real (a matchday program shouldn’t be required for the average soccer fan to identify anyone in their regular starting XI), but without the shiniest star of them all the 2018-19 iteration of the team feels very different. Exacerbating that feeling is the other big departure from Real this past offseason.

Zidane had already volleyed his way into Real Madrid lore as a player, but his legacy as a manager now looms astoundingly large as well. Winning three straight Champions League titles does wonders for your reputation. Zidane’s tactical approach was simple, but effective. When you have one of the greatest goalscorers of all time perennially lurking in the opposition’s penalty area, why would you let fancy schemes get in the way of getting the ball out wide and whipping it into the box?

The man tasked with following Zidane as Real’s manager, Julen Lopetegui, doesn’t have Ronaldo’s metronomic goal-coring ability at his disposal, though. It perhaps shouldn’t be too surprising, then, that his Real are playing in a manner that’s quite a bit different from that of his predecessor. Players are swapping positions, intricate passing triangles are being formed and Real are generally playing much more like a collective as opposed to a collection of supremely talented individuals (which, let us not forget, they still are).

Lopetegui’s adjustments to Real’s playing style have been intriguing to watch. They’ve also gotten results. Real entered their fourth La Liga match of the season this past Saturday against Athletic Bilbao with a plus-eight goal differential, having yet to drop any points. A trip to Basque country can often prove challenging, however, and Bilbao ultimately gave the new-look, Ronaldo-less Real a sterner test than anyone else has thus far in league play.

Real lined up against Bilbao in the 4-3-3 formation they have most commonly played in under Lopetegui. A front three of Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema and Garth Bale was featured and it would have been somewhat pointless to have labeled a right winger, left winger and center forward among the trio. Nominally, Asensio was the left-sided forward, with Bale the right-sided forward and Benzema the center forward, but the three interchanged positions so frequently it rendered those designations inconsequential.

One of the early trademarks of Lopetegui’s Real has been their commitment to overloading the midfield. This means that in addition to alternating their positioning in and around the opposition’s penalty area, Real’s front three also look to drop deep to receive passes (against Bilbao, Asensio was the most active outlet of the front three, accruing 64 touches, per WhoScored).

With their forwards often occupying space in midfield areas, Real’s shape in possession under Lopetegui is usually quite compact which allows them to keep the ball for longer stretches than they were accustomed to under Zidane. And when the ball is lost, the reduced space between their forwards and midfielders means they’re well positioned win it back quickly.

Whether they’re shifting their positioning to receive a pass or pressuring an opposition player in an effort to regain possession, Real’s forwards are constantly in motion. As stationary a target man as Ronaldo has evolved into as his career has progressed, it’s difficult to see him slotting seamlessly into a system where so much extra responsibility is placed on the forward line.

On Saturday, Bilbao weren’t going to make Real’s efforts to control the midfield easy, though. Sitting in a medium block in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Bilbao aggressively hounded Real when Los Blancos were in possession. Per ESPN, the Basque side finished the match with 19 fouls to Real’s six. Left-sided attacking midfielder Iker Muniain was a particular nuisance. In only 52 minutes, he still had three tackles (which tied for the team lead, along with left-back, Yuri, per WhoScored) and was a consistent agitator.

Before he was forced off with injury, Muniain was able to find the back of the net for the match’s opening goal. During the occasions when Real did lose possession of the ball, Bilbao would either try and play an immediate pass forward to take advantage of Real’s defenders having pushed forward (as ever, Real sought to generate attacking width via their full-backs, Marcelo and Dani Carvajal), or if a convenient passing option wasn’t available, Bilbao would build slowly from the back, attempting to draw Real’s center-backs out of position to then play a pass in behind them.

In the 32nd minute, a patient passing sequence from Bilbao drew center-back Sergio Ramos forward and Bilbao’s right-back, Oscar De Marcos, was able to surge into the vacated space and square a pass back into the center of Real’s six-yard box. A shot from Bilbao forward, Inaki Williams, hit off Muniain before crossing the goal line.

Real were able to exert more control over proceedings in the second half, but were still not at their best. Toni Kroos completed fewer passes against Bilbao than he has in any other La Liga match so far this season, per WhoScored, but in the 64th minute he played a long diagonal ball down the right flank to Bale, who then sent a cross into the box for Isco to head home. Isco was subbed on for Luka Modric just three minutes prior to Real’s goal and his ability to find space further forward paid off immediately. Isco’s goal ended the match’s scoring and the 1-1 final was a fair reflection of the balance of play.

Fame and celebrity will likely be forever associated with Real, but more important than any magazine cover that Ronaldo has ever appeared on was his shot-making ability. Last season with Real, he averaged 6.6 shots per match (Middlesbrough as a team averaged just 9.2 shots per match when they were relegated from the Premier League in 2016-17). This season, collectively, Real are averaging close to three fewer shots per match than what they averaged last campaign (stats per WhoScored). Greater patience in possession will lead to fewer shot attempts, but if goals become scarce, it will be difficult to look at Real and not notice the great, big star that’s no longer there.