After the painful defeat against Benfica on Wednesday, the atmosphere around Real Madrid was full of tension again ahead of the match against Rayo Vallecano. As expected, fans booed the team again, even if a bit less than during the match against Levante. It was fundamental to win, and Real Madrid did it, thanks to a last minute penalty scored by Mbappé (who else?). But the Blancos suffered a lot, showed moments of good football but also huge lack of focus and pace. Jude Bellingham was forced to leave the pitch as early as at minute 8 because of an injury. Brahim Díaz was subbed on and it was him who won the decisive penalty.

Matchday 22: Focus on Dean Huijsen

Dean Huijsen started as centre back alongside Raúl Asencio, while Federico Valverde on the right and Eduardo Camavinga on the left completed the "weird" Madrid backline. The ongoing injury crisis in that position keeps forcing Arbeloa to put players out of their usual positions. Asencio himself isn't fully fit but always puts a lot of effort and garra to play and perform in the best way possible.

Huijsen does the same: in every match (and this one was no exception) he recovers some balls excellently, but sometimes he suffers in the 1v1 or creates risky situations for Courtois.

Despite starting in the centre, during the whole match Huijsen often moved to the left, switching positions with Camavinga and supporting Vinícius on the wing. He also attacked space and run to the box on every single free kick or corner kick by Arda Güler. Nobel Mendy pinned him successfully so he could hit the ball just once. I'm not sure if this effort by Huijsen really paid off: when the team lost the ball, he had to run the whole pitch to cover his initial position and create overload n the backline. Real would really need a Ramos-like defender who can also score headers. Militão has the most similar attitude but, as we know, unfortunately he's still currently injured.

In my opinion, Huijsen performed at his best as CB even if in the second half an incautious backpass surely made Courtois swear. Huijsen was surprisingly subbed off at minute 76 while Asencio had been already subbed off at halftime. In the last 20 minutes of the match, Real's backline was: Valverde-Tchouaméni-Alaba...

Another ugly match, but as soon as we win, it's OK. But we can't keep on relying just on luck and Mbappé: the team needs to find its identity and all the players need to show character and resilience and give their all to win (at least) one of the remaining two trophies this season. Is it maybe a mission impossible?

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Did you watch the match? Which player impressed you the most? Hit reply and let me know!

See you next Tuesday!

Marta