Real Madrid Can No Longer Ignore Kovacic Importance nor Benzema Ineffectiveness

Real Madrid remained top of La Liga and unbeaten for the season after salvaging a point with a last-minute equaliser at the Camp Nou in El Clasico, drawing 1-1 with Barcelona on Saturday afternoon.

Captain Sergio Ramos was the man in place to head home the late strike for Los Blancos, who merited a point in what was a reasonably low-key encounter considering the build-up to the game, the potential importance in the title race—even at this early stage of the season—and recent high-octane clashes between the sides.

Manager Zinedine Zidane has now gone 33 games unbeaten, one shy of the club record, and he would have made particular notes of some of his players on the day, with Mateo Kovacic and Karim Benzema standing out for very different reasons.

Kovacic, deserving his place

The Croatian wasn’t even a first-choice consideration at the beginning of the season, with Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric putting the centre of midfield on lockdown and 4-3-3 the go-to formation.

Injuries to each of the three in turn, however, have given the former Inter Milan man his opportunity—and while he has been impressive and consistent since the beginning of the campaign, Kovacic’s last two months have been exceptional.

He is one of Madrid’s, not just the midfield’s, best performers this season and helps balance the side tactically as well as contributing enormously technically.

With more than 1,200 minutes to his name across all competitions, he’s the seventh-highest in the Madrid squad for game time this season—and barely into December, he is already less than 200 minutes away from beating last year’s total game time.

Barcelona tried repeatedly to break through the middle with passes from deep and solo actions on the ball. Kovacic was inevitably on hand to repel both, working in tandem with Luka Modric but also clearly taking the lead for the defensive work, with his elder compatriot still searching for his best touch and full fitness after injury.

Casemiro being left on the bench was partly a nod to Isco’s big performance against Atletico Madrid and partly another to Barcelona’s vulnerabilities, but also to the capacity of Kovacic to lock down the …

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