A spectacular weekend of La Liga football will be back page headlines because of the man Real Madrid were without; Isco. The 26-year-old Spanish playmaker was an unused sub for Los Blancos in their big 2-1 win in Seville against Real Betis. However, after a rough start to life under Santi Solari, the Isco story is all that matters.
La Liga Weekend: The Disco Without Isco
Real Betis 1-2 Real Madrid
Real came into their game against Betis looking to bounce back from an awful 2-0 home loss to Real Sociedad on Matchday 18. After that game, Sergio Ramos talked about how Madrid needed to take a look at themselves. That, plus a multitude of injuries, meant plenty of changes for Solari’s men.
He decided to line up in a 3-5-2 formation with, many of the healthy expected first-teamers on the pitch, except two. Marcelo and Isco were both left on the bench for the entire game, which is quite a big call. Isco, in particular, hasn’t started a La Liga game since Solari took over, but neither would have been any use to them against Betis.
Their plan was clear from the start of the game: sit back and let Betis have the ball, but don’t let them see the goal. Madrid were incredibly defensive, only holding 26% possession throughout the game, a shockingly low number for the defending European Champions. When it gets the job done, though, it’s hard to complain.
They got a lovely goal in the first half from Luka Modric, his first of the season, which is pretty ridiculous for the 2018 Ballon D’Or winner. That was not the end of the scoring. After Betis equalized, Madrid needed another goal and they got it from a free-kick by substitute Dani Ceballos, against his former club. He gave Madrid the 2-1 win and all three points.
Takeaways
There is no place to start other than Isco. The Spanish international was set to be a fixture in the Real Madrid team after the departure of he who shall not be named, but he has not started a match for Madrid since their 3-0 loss at home in the Champions League to CSKA Moscow and he hasn’t played 90 minutes in La Liga since the 5-1 loss in El Clasico.
To be fair to Santi Solari, Isco has done little to warrant a starting place. He has not scored since September and his last assist came in the game against Real Valladolid in November. What’s clear is that Solari’s teams are set up to be more defensive. Madrid have nine goals less than this time last year but tactics aren’t the only reason.
Solari brought Cristo Rodriguez, Brahim Diaz and Dani Ceballos on in this game. Though the latter won the game, the first two names are nowhere near the player Isco is. So as can happen in this sport, this is something that goes deeper than just tactics. There is more to come on this story for sure.
Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Sevilla
It has been a really rough season so far for Athletic Bilbao. The Basque Country’s biggest side came into this game sitting 17th in La Liga, already amassing ten draws in La Liga. This game was a perfect performance from Athletic, however; a perfect performance that augmented their outstanding recent form. Since their new manager, Gazika Garitano, took over, they’ve won 11 points in five games against 11 in their first 14 games.
Even more impressive is that he’s got Inaki Williams scoring again. The 24-year-old Spanish international has had a rough go of it recently. Going into this game against Sevilla, he hadn’t scored at home in over two years, but his talents were on full display today. He grabbed two goals against Sevilla, with the second one being particularly special.
The win for Athletic moved them up into the wild mid-table battle in La Liga this season. There are only three points separating eighth-place Girona from 17th place Celta Vigo. Athletic find themselves smack-bang into the middle of that group in a five-way-tie for 12th-place. Keep an eye on this space because there is plenty of chaos to come.
Barcelona 3-0 Eibar
Barcelona came into this game wanting to get a big win after a poor performance at Levante in midweek. A loss against Levante in a cup tie first leg is one thing, but the level of performance was something any Barcelona fan would be unhappy about, particularly the performance of Philippe Coutinho, who was very poor against Levante. It wasn’t just a bad game for Coutinho, though.
It was a game that put some of Coutinho’s biggest weaknesses on display. He spends too much time trying to work a shot onto his right foot rather than circulate the play or keep it going in the Barcelona way. If there was ever a way to lose the support of the Barcelona fans, it’s by doing exactly what Coutinho was doing against Levante.
Ernesto Valverde gave him a chance to redeem himself against Eibar with a much stronger team set up around him. It was Barcelona’s first choice line-up, minus Samuel Umtiti, so Coutinho was expected to improve his performance and, to be fair to him, he did just that from the moment the game began.
The first goal for Barcelona was a lovely bit of one-touch football from Coutinho and Luis Suarez before the latter curled a lovely ball into the far corner. Though it took a while for Barcelona to really shine, they came out for the second half flying. Suarez got himself another goal and assisted Lionel Messi who scored his 400th La Liga goal.
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