Luka Modric Return Will Give Real Madrid the Fluency Missing in Athletic Defeat

The return of Luka Modric will be warmly welcomed by all at Real Madrid following another disjointed display in their 1-0 defeat away to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

The Croatian midfielder has been out of action since mid-November with a thigh injury he picked up on international duty. While Madrid at first continued apace, the defeat to Valencia in January and dropped points in three of their last five league matches suggest his skill set is required to get their title bid back on track.

The 29-year-old is a relatively unique player, combining excellent technical skills and passing range with good energy and work-rate, and an ever-improving awareness of his defensive responsibilities. He automatically brings greater fluidity to the play of any side he is part of.

And, as the manager made clear in his post-match press conference, it is fluidity that Ancelotti felt his side were lacking during Saturday’s defeat against a well-organised and intelligent Athletic side, who defended solidly and moved the ball forward quickly and efficiently upon winning possession.

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There is no link-up play, our play is too based around individual play, we need another way of attacking, with faster play and fewer touches. It is quite confusing to see what we’re doing at the moment in attack. The ball doesn’t move around quickly.

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While Diego Torres of El Pais (in Spanish) criticised the movement of the forward players in his post-match article, the truth is that Madrid were unable to move the ball forward through midfield with the necessary pace to disrupt the Athletic defence and create spaces in the final third.

Isco has stepped up admirably while Modric has been out of action. Per data from WhoScored.com (plus additional author calculation), 10 of his 12 highest shares of the team’s total passes in a given match have come while the Croatian has been absent. Per Squawka, he has also begun to use longer passes more consistently during this period.

But since James Rodriguez’s injury in early February, he has become the only midfielder who links with the three forwards on a regular basis.

Compare Isco’s sphere of influence on Saturday, as per WhoScored:

Courtesy of WhoScored.com

With that of Asier Illarramendi, on the other side of the midfield three:

Courtesy of WhoScored.com

The balance of the team has shifted to one side over the last month or so, allowing clever and well-organised teams to focus on Isco, safe in the knowledge that there is not an equivalent threat on the other side of the Madrid midfield.

Atletico Madrid did so expertly in their 4-0 win in February. On Saturday, Isco saw plenty of the ball but was unsuccessful in the majority of his forward-thinking passes and movements, as per FourFourTwo Stats Zone.

“Without Modric and James, the three becomes two-and-a-half,” Alfredo Relano wrote in his Sunday morning column for AS. “And it is not necessary to add that that half is, on a rotational basis, Lucas Silva, Illarramendi or [Sami] Khedira.”

Indeed, while I have criticised some of Gareth Bale’s recent performances and previously argued that the 4-4-2 used during his absence through injury earlier this season represented Madrid at their most attractive and well-balanced, it should be noted that with Modric missing he has been hampered by a lack of creative players to link with on his side on the pitch.

While Marcelo, Isco and Cristiano Ronaldo form a dangerous triumvirate down the left, Bale’s side of the midfield has recently been populated by one of the trio mentioned by Relano—all of whom are far less creatively minded than Isco. The right full-back Dani Carvajal is a strong forward runner but is not as technically adept in possession as Marcelo is.

Simply plugging Modric back into the side will likely be sufficient to, at the very least, boost Bale’s numbers to something approaching their levels of earlier in the campaign. The sort of interplay that led to the Welshman’s assist for Ronaldo’s opener in the 5-0 home win over Athletic last October can be expected to return.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

Ancelotti confirmed in his pre-match press conference on Friday that Modric will be part of the squad for Tuesday’s Champions League round-of-16 second leg at home to Schalke. It has previously been suggested that the club are taking a softly, softly approach in order to ensure he is ready to start the Clasico against Barcelona on March 22.

It may take him a little time to find his feet and recapture the form he displayed in the early months of the campaign but once Modric is back and firing on all cylinders, we can expect to see a more fluent and cohesive Madrid during the final stretch of the campaign.