The Real Madrid players put in a solid team performance to pull out a win against then top of the table, Sevilla.
In recent times, going back to last year and maybe even beyond, Real Madrid looked like a team that expected to win without struggle. If struggle was needed, these men weren't up for it and that was evident week-in and week-out.
At one point last year Toni Kroos posted an ironic message in his twitter feed stating, " We won a league match today." That's how bad things were.
But I've noticed some little things in recent matches, things that finally culminated into an important win on Sunday to go top of the table, tied with Athletic Bilbao. The attacking players were starting to track back and defend. Bale was running back and defending. Benzema was defending. Even freshly signed Hazard seemed to be defending like a madman. In yesterday's match everybody dropped back to defend. It was a seriously stellar defensive effort.
It showed desire and the will to win. Everybody was willing to do their part for the good of the team, which caused something marvelous to happen; Sevilla had few scoring opportunities and scored zero goals. Finally, a clean sheet, how long has it been?
If Madrid can win like this now, pushing, pressing, defending, fighting, then confidence will return to the players and club and things will get a little easier. Form will return eventually, probably sooner than later.
Madrid must get back to winning ways. Winning is a habit and so is losing. As bizarre as it sounds to say about Real Madrid, these players were getting used to losing and they didn't seem to care.