Real Madrid has been obtaining very good results for the past 2 weeks or so. Today's match was, in theory, the easiest in a good while and it showed especially in the first 20 minutes. Eibar is a team that currently sits in position #14 from a total of 20 teams. Madrid played with its usual players in the defense and in the midfield. The attacking players were Rodrygo, Benzema, and Lucas Vazquez.
In the beginning, Real Madrid was very focused and everything turned out great for them in the first 15 minutes. The first goal came at the 6-minute mark after an excellent pass from Rodrygo to Benzema into the penalty box, and the second goal was scored on the 13-minute mark by Modric after receiving a nice pass from Benzema when he was in the final line of the pitch.
When Madrid scored the second goal I was thinking they should continue playing at this pace, score the third goal as quickly as they can, and then use the second half of the match to do 5 changes and rotate the squad. This is important because if players don't rotate enough they can get injured due to accumulated fatigue and Zidane hasn't been rotating that much as of late. However, instead of trying to score the third goal, Madrid's players began to relax. This is a typical mistake from Real Madrid when they obtain an early advantage in the matches.
Sometime later, at the 28-minute mark the inevitable happened, Eibar scored a great goal from outside the penalty box and this was the result of a silly loss from Vazquez when trying to find a good pass near his defensive zone. The shot was unstoppable so it wasn't Courtois's fault but rather Vazquez's and the other defensive players were also a bit responsible. Now, after having enjoyed a perfect beginning of the match, Eibar only needed 1 more goal to achieve a tie.
After that goal, the explosive beginning came to a halt. Both teams were now very careful not to commit any mistake and the goal opportunities didn't come as easy. The second half was slower than the first one, Real Madrid only did 2 changes Modric for Valverde and Rodrygo for Asensio and that didn't change much in the team. Valverde is a force to be reckoned with in the midfield as always, and Asensio doesn't do anything useful which is sadly what is to be expected from him given his disappointing season. It is incredible this player still has 0 goals and 0 assists in the entire season. His competitors, which are Hazard, Vinicius, Rodrygo, and Vazquez have all goals and assists, but not Asensio. This is probably his worst season so far, but there is still hope he can achieve a good performance in the coming months.
At the end of the match, Eibar almost scored their second goal but it was miraculously saved by Ramos and seconds later, in Real Madrid's next attack, Benzema gave a good pass to Vazquez and with almost no angle he finds a space to shoot the ball and it went in. It was the third goal for Madrid, the first goal for Vazquez, and the second assist from Benzema. I still think Madrid could have scored their first goal in the first 30 minutes if they hadn't lost their focus after the second goal.
It was a good victory for Real Madrid, but I wasn't happy that several important players didn't participate in the match. Especially the midfielder Odegaard, and the strikers Jovic and Mariano. I think Zidane didn't want to change the team that much because it was too risky since Eibar only needed 1 goal to tie the match. It is also worth mentioning that since Zidane decided not to include Isco and Marcelo Real Madrid hasn't stopped winning. It was clear the performance of those 2 players was hurting the team and it seems like Zidane finally realized it.