Madrid: Although Real Madrid’s game at Getafe was important in the sense that any more dropped points would very definitely have handed Barcelona the impetus in La Liga, it was much more than a game for a variety of reasons.
For the first time in the league this season, Cristiano Ronaldo got on the scoresheet. That it has taken until the middle of October for him to register in the Spanish top flight has much to do with his initial five-game ban of course.
Almost four full games thereafter, the Portuguese broke his duck for 2017-18 with an exquisite volley and the sense of relief was palpable. Somewhere in the region of 20 chances had been passed up by the striker in the matches preceding Getafe, and even on Saturday, Ronaldo somehow contrived to miss an incredible chance from two yards out.
If Madrid still have aspirations of winning every trophy that they contest this season, then they need their star player and leader to be fit and firing. Now that the monkey is off of Cristiano’s back, we might see something approaching the player we know he can be.
The visit to their southern Madrid rivals was also Zinedine Zidane’s 100th match on the Real bench and he celebrated the landmark with his 76th win. Presently, he has still only lost one more match (eight) than he’s won trophies.
Though it would have escaped the attention of many before the game, the victory happened to be Real’s 13th consecutive away win, stretching back to February when they were defeated by Valencia at Mestalla.
The new mark takes them one clear of the old record, set by Pep Guardiola’s swashbuckling Barca side, and all in all, despite being kept quiet for long periods, it was a good day’s work for the men from the Spanish capital.
After an unexpectedly difficult start to this campaign, a win at the Coliseum where rivals Barcelona were similarly made to work as hard for their three points, now gives them a platform from which to build.
Injuries haven’t been kind to Los Blancos either but the returning Karim Benzema showed everyone what they’d been missing when he opened the scoring, equalling Real legend Gento with his 182nd goal for the club in the process.
Within the next couple of weeks, Zidane will have a full-strength squad by and large and, with respect, the run of games that Real have leading up to the Madrid derby on November 19, shouldn’t be too taxing for them.
The result at Getafe, and the nature of the win, might well be the turning point.
As they say, it’s a marathon not a sprint, and with only five points now separating Real from top spot, they’ll not be overly concerned at the current status quo.
