On Tuesday night, many of Real Madrid’s players returned to the place where they suffered one of the most shocking defeats in the 2018 World Cup – Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. There, they were met by Igor Akinfeev and his CSKA Moscow teammates, who stunned the defending champions, claiming a famous 1-0 victory.
Nikola Vlasic scores winning goal against Real Madrid
20-year-old Nikola Vlasic, who’s on loan in CSKA from Premier League side Everton, opened the scoring early. In the 2nd minute, he intercepted an unnecessarily risky back pass by Toni Kroos and converted between two defenders. It turned out to be the winning goal.
“It was probably the biggest match of my career so far,”
Real Madrid fail to score for a third straight game
Real Madrid controlled most of the contest. They had 73% of the possession and 18 more shots on goal, but it wasn’t enough. Mariano Diaz and Raphael Varane failed to make three late chances count, Akinfeev was sent off due to exaggerated protests and finally, the referee blew the whistle. It signaled the third straight game in which Los Blancos didn’t find the net, which is inexcusable for a talented team such as this one.
The beginning of the season was great, but now reality kicks in and it says missing a world class player such as Cristiano Ronaldo does make a difference. Without him and without an injured Gareth Bale in the lineup, Real missed that last touch, that moment of inspiration which can help decide or turn around matches like this one.
The loss to CSKA Moscow is a wake-up call for Lopetegui
The result puts CSKA Moscow atop the Group G standings ahead of back-to-back fixtures with Roma. The Italians smashed five past Plzen and seem to be slowly recovering from their early season woes. Real Madrid have two matches with Plzen coming up, which should help them get back on track. They will likely progress despite last night’s slip up, but nevertheless, the loss to CSKA was a vital wake-up call.
The upcoming international break comes at a good time for Julen Lopetegui, who will have some time to think and reconstruct his currently inefficient game plan. Before that, a weekend visit to tricky Alaves awaits.
