Three takeaways from Real Madrid’s 1-0 win against Getafe

It wasn’t easy but Real Madrid managed to beat Getafe in what was one of the biggest wins of the season for Los Blancos. Zidane’s men needed to take advantage of Barcelona’s draw against Atletico and so they did, building a four-point lead in the table with only five games until the end of the 2019-2020 Liga season.

1. It wasn’t pretty and there are things to improve. We all know a win is a win and even more so with only five games to go, but Madrid’s performance against Getafe wasn’t good enough to earn the three points. In the end, the players deserve all the credit for finding a way through, but they will also have to improve a bit if they want to have a chance against Manchester City. Getafe’s pressing scheme made it very uncomfortable for Los Blancos and neither Casemiro, Kroos, Modric or Isco allowed the team to move forward. In the end, Zidane will have to find a reliable answer to this kind of pressing system.
2. Real Madrid now can afford to draw two games. With five matches to go, their four-point lead and the tiebreaker they hold against Barcelona mean that Madrid would still win the title if they draw two games and win the other three, no matter what Barcelona do. Madrid’s upcoming game against Athletic Bilbao will be extremely tough —only two days after Getafe— and luckily enough Madrid have some margin of error with their current lead.
3. It might be time for Zidane to make some rotations. Some of Real Madrid’s players were visibly exhausted last night. Modric, Isco, Vinicius and even Benzema appear to be really tired and coach Zinedine Zidane will likely need to use his depth fairly soon. The team will only have two days to rest before the away match against Athletic and that might not be enough for some of the players, so this is something Zidane should monitor because Athletic will surely go after Madrid right from the get go knowing that they’ve had two more days of rest. Real Madrid will need fresh legs in Sunday’s game.