DEFENCE COMES FIRST

Rafael Benitez believes the success of a side is always built around a strong defence. If you don’t let too many goals to be scored against you, your chances of winning would automatically increase.

Benitez’s side Real Madrid has done exactly that this season. They have kept a clean sheet or at most in two or three games, they have conceded one goal. But, none of their games so far has been a close one. Either you talk about European games or the domestic Liga games.

And, that is perhaps the reason why they are not only topping the Liga at the moment, but, have also managed to ensure their passage to the knockouts of the Champions League.

With still a couple of games in hand, they have secured enough points to make sure they will remain in top 2 in the points table of their group which is Group A. They are already amongst the favourites to win the Champions League according to the StanJames betting website.

However, according to Benitez, rather than getting carried away with all the success that the Los Blancos have had in the summer, his boys should still try and see where and how they can improve as a unit.

Yesterday, post the PSG contest, the Spaniard was quoted as saying, “We won and it was a pretty big win if you consider the quality of the opposition that we were up against. It’s not a mean achievement to move to the next round keeping a clean sheet in all the games in Europe, but, as much as you are happy and proud to have qualified, it’s also important to reflect a little bit on the things which perhaps could have been done better especially in first 45 minutes. We will have to continue getting better and better.”

Madrid’s next game is a Liga encounter against Sevilla this Sunday.