As most people know, Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid are struggling badly in La Liga. Last weekend an own goal from Cristiano Ronaldo led to a 1 – 0 defeat at relegation threatened Granada – the fourth time they have lost in the southern province of Andalusia this season.

That result has left Real third, four points behind City rivals Atletico and 16 behind Barcelona. They face the Catalans at the Camp Nou later this month in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

But before that there is the small matter of Champions League first leg knockout tie against Premier League leaders Manchester United – a monumental tie at this stage of the competition.

There are numerous plots such as Cristiano Ronaldo’s first match against his former club, while The Special One reacquaints himself with his great rival Alex Ferguson – the man he could replace at some point in the future.

The tie is evenly poised with attacking talent at both sides’ disposal, although Real will be slight favourites regardless of their inconsistent form.

Attacking instincts

But Manchester United have the advantage of playing at the Bernabeu first. And Ferguson should have nothing to fear provided that United’s scouts have studied Real’s La Liga performances.

Fergie’s attacking instincts coupled with a jittery defence would normally play into Mourinho’s hands. But going by their La Liga performances, Real Madrid are quite one dimensional.

Their success last season was built on the counter-attack with Cristiano Ronaldo, Angel Di Maria and Karim Benzema using their pace and power to attack the space in behind opposition defences to devastating effect. This season they have scored eight times on the break, the most of any La Liga team, with only half of their goals coming from open play.

Some Spanish teams have cottoned on and some have managed to thwart Real this season by sitting deep and ceding possession to Real Madrid particularly when hosting the capital club. Granada used this template last weekend, getting only one shot on target in the entire match as they sat back and made Real look ordinary by letting Los Merengues play in front of them.

A couple of weeks previously, Valencia had been battered 5 – 0 at the Mestalla. But they could only blame themselves. If anyone watched that match live, they would have noticed that Los Che played into Mourinho’s hands by trying to dictate possession and not sitting deep. They also left huge gaps between their midfield and back line, with defensive-midfielder Fernando Gago hopelessly exposed. Consequently Ronaldo scored twice, as did Di Maria.

Last night Ronaldo grabbed a hat-trick in a 4 - 1 win over Sevilla at the Bernabeu with the Andalusian's causing their own downfall with some lacklustre defending as they were caught on the break, time and time again until Real had Gonzalo Higuain sent off.

Unlike Barcelona, Real’s problem is that they lack the guile to consistently open up disciplined defences in a patient manner. They may have the second highest pass completion rate in La Liga but that is far behind Barca and is only marginally superior to the rest of La Liga. Luka Modric was signed with the expressed purpose of improving that element of their play but he has been underwhelming as he acclimatises to life at the Bernabeu. 

Scattergun approach

Unsurprisingly with Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks, Real obliterate the opposition when it comes to shots taken per game at 19 per match. This is far ahead of the next team neighbours Rayo Vallecano (14.8) and Barcelona (13.6). But it is a scatter gun approach with only 41 per cent of their attempts on goal hitting the target. Ronaldo, alone takes over seven shots per game – not even the club’s strikers Gonzalo Higuain and Benzema get anywhere near that tally.

Mourinho is a huge fan of transitions – regaining possession and advancing towards the opposition penalty area as quickly as possible. But when his Madrid side are delayed en route to goal they have struggled to think their way towards goal.

What Man United need to do at the Bernabeu is to allow Real Madrid to dictate possession and hit the Spanish side on the counter-attack. They should also make sure that any midfield combination that they use does not leave huge gaps between themselves and the defensive pair of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. This will allow a midfielder to help out the full-backs whenever Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria get themselves free and cut inside as they like to do. And with Rafael Da Silva maturing at right-back, that task will be a little easier.

At the other end of the pitch, the Reds should also make the most of any set pieces they win, a major weakness for Madrid defensively this season.

And with the clinical Robin Van Persie up front they can pose a huge danger for a Real defence that is not entirely secure.