Real Madrid still searching for 'complete performance' Carlo Ancelotti craves

As Vinicius Junior tore into Rayo Vallecano's half, the 21-year-old winger appeared to be caught in two minds on three separate occasions, reluctantly deciding to skip past the sashed shirt in front of him on each occasion.

His eventual shot bypassed the goalkeeper but was frantically cleared off the line, keeping Real Madrid's lead down to two goals.

40 minutes later, Toni Kroos was scrambling Oscar Valentin's bundled effort from a corner off Real Madrid's own goal-line to narrowly preserve a victory in a contest that had long seemed over.

On the eve of Real Madrid's 2-1 win at home to high-flying Rayo on Sunday evening, Los Blancos manager Carlo Ancelotti outlined the importance of a display that lasts the entire 90 minutes.

"I'm expecting to see a Real Madrid side that needs to put in a complete performance,” he predicted (via the club’s official website), “...because we're up against a side that I like the way they play, they're a very good team and demonstrate all their qualities.”

For 75 minutes, Madrid made Rayo look very much like a newly promoted side that scrapped their way into the playoffs via a sixth-place finish in the second tier - rather than one occupying the same position one division higher.

Comfortable playing through the visitors' aggressive high press, Eder Militao bypassed Rayo's pressure with a ball over the top. Toni Kroos nodded on his pass and ended the move to give Madrid a lead inside the opening quarter of an hour. Karim Benzema doubled the hosts' advantage in a controlled first half.

On a night where he was presented with a customary slew of chances, Benzema's goal was the only one of his six efforts that he steered on target. His most damning miss came at the culmination of some audacious interplay between Vinicius and Ferland Mendy, as the pair exchanged back-heels into the area to tee up the Frenchman, in vain, shortly after the hour mark.

Alongside Vinicius' aforementioned forced goal-line clearance, Marco Asensio ran clear of Rayo's rearguard as the game became increasingly stretched after the interval. One-on-one with Stole Dimitrievski, Rayo's keeper anticipated Asensio's attempted dink, swatting away his effort.

Benzema - who could have wrapped the game up before the break, but spooned a header on the rebound over the bar - was caught overplaying on the edge of Rayo's area as the match crept into the final 15 minutes, and the score - somehow - still only 2-0.

Rayo's second-half substitute Bebe gleefully accepted possession, barrelling up the pitch before rattling off an effort that struck the woodwork - and a nerve for Madrid. Moments later the previously dominant hosts timidly backed away from Alvaro Garcia in the penalty area, allowing Rayo's forward time and space to pick out Radamel Falcao who nodded the plucky underdogs back into the contest.

For the third time in their last four domestic outings, Real had been pegged back to 2-1 after coasting with a two-goal lead. Just one week prior, after a win over Elche which followed a strikingly similar pattern to Sunday's contest, Ancelotti voiced his concerns.

"We controlled the match quite well, except for the final phase,” as quoted by Marca. “Everyone thought the match was over [at 2-0], but it doesn’t end until the final whistle.”

Since the last international break - which Madrid went into on the back of a 2-1 defeat to a newly promoted side - Ancelotti has ditched his initial insistence on high pressing for a more reactive, counterattacking game.

While this certainly exploits the strengths of Vinicius in transition, it forces a back-four - who were starting their third ever game alongside one another on the weekend - into plenty of work.

Madrid may have conceded just four goals from their six games in this sequence but they have allowed opportunities worth almost double that (per FotMob’s expected goals model). Overall this season, Madrid rank 11th for expected goals conceded in La Liga (per UnderStat) - which represents more than a 30% drop off from Zinedine Zidane’s gritty, rather than glitzy runners-up last term.

However, had Madrid taken their chances when they were firmly in the ascendency, Kroos' intervention in his own box would have been far less relevant than his exploits in the opposition area. In that sense at least, Kroos alone enjoyed the complete performance his manager is still holding out for.