A rarity occurred after Real Madrid lost at Getafe, putting them 5 points behind Barcelona. Jose Mourinho actually accepted defeat (with a little, tiny arrow towards the referee) and didn’t have any back up words for his players, who did look pretty bad. Maybe the arrival of Luka Modric, finally a done deal, will help them rebound from the disappointing start to the season.

Here is the only one – My players told me the second goal was a handball by Colunga but I don’t care. Getafe’s win was deserved but it was nothing from another world. Real Madrid were bad. It was an unacceptable game and, from what I had been analysing, I was not surprised. We totally deserved the defeat. I do not want to speak with them. The only conclusion that I want is that they realise that it was more a deserved defeat for Real Madrid than a deserved win for Getafe.

If the draw at home against Valencia was a case of Real Madrid not taking advantage of more than a dozen good opportunities to score, the loss to Getafe was completely different. The first half once again saw Gonzalo Higuain score an opener, but the champions stopped playing from that moment. Xabi Alonso and Lass didn’t really dominate in the middle of the pitch and throwing in Karim Benzema instead of Diarra added nothing to Real’s game, with Mesut Ozil having one of those matches when he disappears and fades away due to the physicality of things. Sami Khedira was on the bench, but Mourinho opted not to use him.

By throwing in Morata near the end as another attacker Real gained nothing, but Mourinho probably showed that there’s a bit of a depth problem for the club after an entire summer with no signings, until now. Luka Modric will certainly improve Real Madrid’s middle, although it remains to be seen how will Mourinho change things in order to incorporate the Croatian, who can play both as a holding or an attacking midfielder, and who of the regulars will pay the price for the £33 million signing.

Panic time? Really really not. Real Madrid dropped 5 points very early on last season, but went on to win the title. Sure, something’s a bit off with their game, and especially Cristiano Ronaldo, who might simply still be a bit winded from having hardly any rest during the offseason, while the media try to relate his form to off pitch problems. Maybe, you never really know, but it’s a certainty that he’s probably been the most disappointing player for the team after three matches.

In any other league in the world, dropping 5 points behind the league leaders wouldn’t matter. But these two clubs offer so little in terms of stumbles along the way, that every point counts. The good thing for Mourinho is that his players can’t really preform any worse than they did during the second half, and the only way is up now, after the Super Cup second leg of course, which might be the last thing this team needs at the moment.

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