Real Madrid’s Midfield Maestros
By the end of Tuesday’s Champions League Quarterfinal first leg between Real Madrid and their increasingly troublesome neighbors Atletico, despite Real’s first half dominance, Real had failed to beat their supposedly lesser rivals over 90 minutes in their last nine meetings (the Champions League Final was 1-1 after 90 minutes). As Mario Mandzukic stormed off the field, still spitting fire and bleeding from a cut next to his eye, it seemed as if Real may have missed their opportunity to end the tie early after missing a number of first half chances.
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In the second half Atletico were able to come into the game more with the game becoming more fragmented and scrappy. Mandzukic embodied this change; where in the first half he was left to desperately chase lost causes and was generally kept at arm’s length by Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, in the second he was able to hold up play more and was a pest to a previously untroubled Real backline. However, while Mandzukic’s actions and the reactions of Real defenders were the headline story after the game, the more subtle but perhaps more significant change occurred in the middle of the park.
Out of the last nine meetings between the two, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos have only started together in three of them. It’s a fact that most would consider minor or even irrelevant. In the team that lined up on Tuesday, both are a long way down the list in terms of popularity and wow factor. Even when compared with the two center backs they help protect they seem unremarkable. When equated to other great midfields of recent years – Barcelona in 2011 or Milan of the mid 2000’s to name a couple– these two receive little attention.
This is probably mostly attributable to team composition;Kroos and Modric line up with Ronaldo and Bale in front of them and Ramos and Casillas behind them. Of course, they also haven’t played a lot of games together yet either, so comparing them to Xavi and Iniesta or Seedorf, Gattuso and Pirlo is somewhat of a leap of faith, but it certainly isn’t an over exaggeration in terms of the impact or quality of the pair. (Maybe it is when likening them to the Barca duo, but there almost isn’t a midfield duo in history that compares favorably with those two.)
It was their quality, more than even the superstars around them, that was evident in the first half. As a pairing they are similar in a lot of ways: technically flawless, with razor sharp footballing minds that allow them to stay two steps ahead of those around them. Kroos has a better range of pass and prefers to play from a deeper starting point in midfield (although he played further up the field at Bayern when Schweinsteiger was in the team), which is probably why Real felt he and Xabi Alonso couldn’t work together in the same team, such is the overlap in their game (and is also likely why Bayern thought Alonso was a good replacement after losing Kroos).
Modric, on the other hand, is more at ease moving with the ball, effortlessly gliding past would be tacklers before laying the ball off to those in better positions. He will very rarely play passes more than 20 yards, instead moving possession quickly while possessing an innate feel for the tempo of a game and adjusting his play accordingly. As a pair, the fact that they are so smart as individuals has allowed them to make subtle changes to fit with the other, accentuating certain areas of their game that the other may lack, while their interplay is as smooth as it is accurate.
However, neither is prone to overcomplicating play: they know they have players around them who can create goals and try to get it to them in good positions with minimal fuss. Defensively they aren’t going to intimidate or bully opposing players, neither stands over six feet, nor has the physical capabilities to routinely force players off the ball. Of course, it is again their intelligence that comes to their aid most, with their reading of play allowing them to close down angles and cut off passing lanes although both aren’t afraid of a tackle by any means.
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Going back to that first half both were at their quiet, subtle, brilliant best, with Kroos’ switch of play never allowing Atletico’s defense to settle or close down one specific areas, while his positional discipline allowed both fullbacks to push forward, as well as given James Rodriguez more freedom to roam around and join up with the front three. Modric was more directly involved in the attacking play, though rarely took more than three touches when receiving the ball in the final third. Instead he pushed the pace of the attack at a point where it felt like a Real goal was inevitable. As the game dragged on and into the second half though, the pair were less able to bend the game to their will. Atletico kept possession better. In the first half they had lost it cheaply, in part down to good, measured pressing from Modric and Kroos, which allowed Real to build pressure. This meant they could more easily put Real under pressure when they lost the ball.
The fantastic play from Modric and Kroos in that first half though should have been enough of a platform for Real to almost finish the tie, with the pair setting endless dangerous looking attacks up in that first period. Now though they will have to do it again, albeit at home, in the second leg. Looking past that game and indeed this season, the spectre of Paul Pogba looms large over the pair, with Real thought to be the frontrunners for his signature. In that case one suspects that the supremely talented Frenchman would be paired with either Modric or Kroos in most matches, breaking up a partnership that never really saw its full and glorious potential realised. This being Real though, the one thing you can be sure of is the constant change and need to update to the next superstar.
Whether it’s this summer or in the next couple of years, this partnership will almost certainly be broken up. Because regardless of who plays around them, it is obvious this pairing is the team’s heartbeat. Make sure you enjoy its understated genius while you can.
Next: Ross Barkley's Development at Everton