First thing first – Real Madrid were absolutely below-par against the newly promoted Cadiz, who stunned them after almost 30 years. The viewers were left to ponder over and over again, what was Real Madrid playing and what their actual game plan was! Yes, against such a newly promoted unit, any big teams would experiment, but that does not mean, the title holders would dish out such a disaster-class which would end their winning streak in such a manner.

Every player who wasn’t called up to their national teams during the international break, bar Marco Asensio and Eder Militao started: Marcelo, Thibaut Courtois, Nacho Fernandez, Lucas Vazquez, Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema, Isco.

For the remaining positions in midfield, Zidane opted to start Luka Modric and Kroos over Casemiro and Fede Valverde, both of whom traveled extensively to South America and back.

Had Odegaard not gotten injured, he would’ve started this game over an exhausted Modric who went full throttle with Croatia in a box-to-box performance against France.

In the first half, the Los Blancos looked like a ship without a radar – the backline was exposed, the midfield was disorganized and the frontline hard had the ball on their feet.

Cadiz exploited the opportunity to caught Real Madrid in transition and exhibit their defensive solidity.

Cadiz took a well-deserved lead through Anthony Lozano’s 16th-minute effort.

Courtois denied Lozano a second before half-time when Zinedine Zidane made four substitutions with an injured Sergio Ramos among the players to make way.

Prior to his injury, Ramos came to Madrid’s rescue inside two minutes, hooking Alvaro Negredo’s effort off the line.

Lozano looked set to double his tally just after the half-hour, but Courtois made a fine save at his near post, though Madrid’s goalkeeper had a lucky escape when he dropped a cross which no Cadiz attacker could pounce on.

With four new players on, Madrid stepped up the tempo, though Vinicius’ wayward strike was the closest they came to troubling Cadiz early in the second half.

Vinicius should have restored parity after the hour, only to head wide from Kroos’ left-wing cross.

Kroos, as usual, was the best player on the pitch creating five chances, but his teammates just failed to exploit them.

Under-pressure Jovic found the net but the goal was rightly disallowed for offside from Benzema.

Wearing the pink shirt, the Los Blancos fell flat in a similar fashion like that against Manchester City in the Champions League a few months back.

It was hard to understand what was Marcelo and Nacho doing in the defence whereas, why the forwards lacked the control over the ball remains a moot question.

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With such a dismal show and being off-coloured in the previous matches don’t give a very impressive future ahead until and unless Zinedine Zidane decides to get the combination right and lessen his intent to experiment more often.

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