Real Madrid lost their 40-game unbeaten streak, but they’re far from vulnerable

Ding, dong, the streak is dead. No, the Undertaker hasn’t been beaten again, but Real Madrid’s 40-match unbeaten streak stretching back to last season came to an abrupt and undignified end on Sunday. They fell at the hands of Sevilla, who now sit just one point behind them in La Liga thanks to a hot streak of their own. Many are hailing this loss as a sign that Madrid are suddenly vulnerable and ready to get beaten by all their rivals — but in reality, they’re going to be anything but.

No, in reality this loss will likely serve to refocus Real Madrid and see them find a new gear, one they’ve lacked of late. Since returning from the winter break in Spain, Madrid had seemed somewhat overly relaxed, coaxing through two easy wins before Sevilla gave them a scare at midweek, forcing the Merengues to come from behind with two late goals in Copa del Rey action to keep their unbeaten streak intact.

That brought us to Sunday, when Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane pulled out all the stops in his efforts to turn around his team’s form. Deploying a 3-5-2 in large part because of the form, injuries, and fatigue of his squad, Zidane actually got a very, very good performance from his team. It wasn’t perfect — Karim Benzema’s struggles highlighted their need for Gareth Bale to return to health as soon as possible, and Toni Kroos was uncharacteristically mediocre — but on most any other day, Real Madrid would have gotten a draw at worst and much more likely would have gotten a win.

But this wasn’t any other day. Real Madrid were facing a Sevilla team who have been getting into progressively better form over the last three months, constantly growing in both quality and confidence. If there was any team ready to rise up and punch Madrid in the teeth, it was Sevilla, and playing at home while buoyed by a strong performance against the Merengues just days before made this the perfect time.

Make no mistake, Sevilla played an almost perfect match, and that’s what it took to get their much-celebrated win. They harried Madrid, they kept up attacking pressure at all the right times, and Jorge Sampaoli made all the right substitutions — especially the ultimately inspired move to bring on Stevan Jovetic, who eventually scored the winning goal in stoppage time. Zidane set up his team to deny Sevilla big chances, which meant that the hosts had to take full advantage of what opportunities did arise.

And take advantage they did. Sevilla didn’t give up when Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty in the 67th minute — if anything, they redoubled their efforts. The near-continuous pressure Sampaoli’s team was able to put up from there directly led to Sergio Ramos’ disastrous own goal, and the winner that Jovetic scored was nothing short of inspired. It was a performance of the ages — and one that will not only help elevate Sevilla this season, but could kick-start Real Madrid’s as well.

While an unbeaten streak like the one Madrid were on is a wildly impressive accomplishment, they also have their downsides. Overconfidence can set in, and that can lead to decreasing quality and effort on the pitch. That seemed to be setting in to some degree for Madrid, but Zidane recognized that and pushed his team to focus and reorganize on Sunday. It didn’t work in the end, obviously, but his team still looked better than they had in awhile and losing in spite of their improvements should help snap Madrid back into focus once more.

And as everyone in La Liga and much of Europe knows, a focused Real Madrid is an incredibly dangerous Real Madrid. They started last season in abysmal form, but once they refocused their efforts they made a late push in the La Liga title race — and oh yeah, they won the Champions League. No big deal.

With them already standing as the leaders in the La Liga title race, albeit with a narrower lead now, a refocused effort from Real Madrid could see them run away with the title, and take back their place as a favorite in the Champions League. Their next run of opponents in La Liga — including Malaga, Real Sociedad, and Celta Vigo, who they also face in the next round of the Copa del Rey — and upcoming Champions League foes Napoli should be feeling far more uncertain about their matches against Real Madrid in the coming month, because their loss against could be just the spark they needed to go on an incredible run of form.