Do Real Madrid Defend Better When Cristiano Ronaldo Doesn't Play?

Like Cristiano Ronaldo, you were probably happy that you had some other form of entertainment on hand when Real Madrid went to Manchester City in midweek for their UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg.

Whatever you did—check Twitter, browse this website—the Portuguese superstar chose to pass the time during what was a fairly dull affair by keeping track of his Instagram account, but one thing he can’t fail to have noticed was just how well his team-mates defended.

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We can often get carried away in football with the outcome of first-leg scores, forgetting that, by their very definition, they are simply just the first part of the story.

By stopping City from scoring at the Etihad Stadium, Real have set themselves up perfectly for the return leg in the Spanish capital, where they’ll hope the awesome attacking power of Ronaldo will be back to complement their other superstars.

But by not having him available in Manchester, were they actually at an advantage? The selection of Lucas Vazquez and then the second half appearance of Jese meant they had two nimble, energetic attackers who were more than willing to get back and help their side keep their shape.

This isn’t meant as a criticism of Ronaldo, of course, but not having him in the side just makes Real that little bit more like all the other teams.

They have to work harder for their clean sheet because they know that one of the best attackers the game has ever seen isn’t up at the other end. As CNN reported after the City game, they have a 43 per cent win ratio in the Champions League whenever Ronaldo doesn’t play, compared to a 71 per cent one when he does.

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Ronaldo won’t be available for Saturday’s trip to face Real Sociedad at the Anoeta on Saturday either, and as far as one of the hosts’ players is concerned, that makes their task all the tougher.

“Not coming up against Ronaldo has its good and bad sides,” Sociedad left-back Yuri Berchiche told Marca, via Goal. “But the team becomes more competitive in the sense that everyone defends much better. Without him they are stronger when defending as a block and they leave less space. With Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, they stay more up the field, adding very little to Real Madrid.”

Adding very little?

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Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale have scored 47, 27 and 18 goals, respectively, this season, adding up to a total of 92, and Berchiche—who was on the books at Tottenham Hotspur at the same time as Bale between 2007 and 2008—might do well to remember that, but it is easy to see what he means.

He is referring to their defensive efforts and the fact the team functions a little bit more as a team when Ronaldo is absent and that famous “BBC” front line is broken up.

As seen in Manchester, the likes of Luka Modric—who was excellent at the Etihad—and Toni Kroos come to the fore in such matches, and although Sociedad don’t pose anywhere near the amount of attacking threat that City do, both players will need to be on their game at a ground where Barcelona lost recently.

Playing before their two title rivals this Saturday, Real will see their trip to Sociedad as the perfect chance to turn up the heat in a battle they can’t have expected to be a part of, but without Ronaldo again, they’ll be required to show more of an attacking intent than they did in Manchester.

But, as reported by AS, both Benzema and Jese are likely to be missing at the Anoeta, placing more emphasis on Bale and Vazquez to deliver.

Both men can be safe in the knowledge that, while Ronaldo isn’t there, the rest of their team-mates will be working that little bit harder to try to cover for his absence.

After all, the Portuguese has had a superhuman influence on his club for quite some time now, and so those around him surely owe him a good performance or two.