When Cristiano Ronaldo scores four goals in one game, it is easy to fall into the trap of forgetting all the work done by his teammates. Yet while we already knew about the Ballon d'Or winner's brilliance prior to Real Madrid's 5-1 hammering of Elche, developments elsewhere on the pitch were more significant.
Asier Illarramendi didn't feature on the covers of Marca or AS on Wednesday morning, but after producing one of his best displays in a Madrid shirt, he provided far more food for thought for Carlo Ancelotti than Ronaldo. Handed his first start of the season, Illarramendi was tidy in the middle and constantly available to provide support, and it's no coincidence that Los Blancos looked less fragile as a consequence.
After a difficult debut season at the Bernabeu, that measured display is a hugely encouraging sign from the young player, and will be equally pleasing to Ancelotti in his search for a well-rounded Madrid XI. Despite logic dictating that the newfound equilibrium provided by the Basque should ensure he keeps his place against Villarreal, Ancelotti seems to be in a constant battle with the temptation to field as many attacking players as possible -- perhaps encouraged by his president.
Will the Italian take note of the strong case put forward by Illarramendi, or will he revert to type and opt for the headline-makers? The answer could have a defining impact on the course of Real Madrid's season.
Illarramendi's childhood ensured he was destined to become a holding midfielder. Growing up in a fourth-floor apartment overlooking the local football pitch in Mutriku, by the time he hit his teens he had watched more games from above than most see in a lifetime. Given that particularly unique vantage point, it's no surprise that he was drawn toward a role that doesn't obsess with the act of scoring goals, but rather, demands spatial awareness and a constant knowledge of where teammates are positioned.
Yet despite his natural affinity for the midfield pivot's role, it is hard to escape the feeling that Illarramendi has been at the bottom of the list of options for that position this season. A poor performance against Borussia Dortmund in last year's Champions League dented his confidence, while off-field antics involving a bull provoked a club fine and huge scrutiny. Ancelotti had until Wednesday preferred to opt for Toni Kroos as the most withdrawn of his midfielders, and it took eight games in all competitions before he eventually threw a starting opportunity to the player who in principle is best suited for that task.
Curiously, the answers to the biggest dilemmas at Madrid have a habit of arriving in an unexpected form. Take Pepe, whom most had written off just over a year ago after Raphael Varane debunked him during the final months of Jose Mourinho's reign at the Bernabeu. When injury problems put Varane out of action and threatened to create a serious issue at the back, the veteran central defender responded with the most mature season of his Madrid career, playing an important part in bringing home La Decima and shutting a few mouths in the process. A similar case was Angel Di Maria, who in a matter of months, managed to transform his situation from being on a downward trajectory after the arrival of Gareth Bale to becoming perhaps the single most important piece in Ancelotti's Champions League-winning midfield.
True to recent Madrid tradition, with Xabi Alonso leaving late in the transfer window, Sami Khedira out through injury, and Kroos offering little in terms of protection for the back four, up pops inconspicuous Illarramendi with a display of some note. The difference with him on the pitch on Tuesday was evident in the numbers.
Los Blancos gave up five goal-scoring chances against Elche, two of which were crosses from wide positions where the Basque had no business being anyway. That's quite a contrast to the 11 chances they offered Deportivo last weekend, and the 12 they allowed FC Basel the week before.
In the latter two games Madrid may ultimately have won by a comfortable margin, but the best sides won't pass up such a high volume of opportunities to cause damage. The near 50 percent increase in Madrid's defensive quality in the Elche game was an important step forward, and Illarramendi's part in that can't be denied.
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Completing 92 of 101 attempted passes in front of the back four, he was involved in almost half (seven) of the 16 most common passing combinations made by Madrid. His most common combination was with Isco, the other outstanding midfielder of the night, whom he found 18 times, but Sergio Ramos, Varane and Kroos all frequently associated with him as well. Illarramendi fused the defence and attack together with intelligence and fluidity.
That shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone who has watched the midfielder over the course of his brief senior career. When it comes to making tidy passing in high-pressure situations look simple, there are few better in his position.
The real issue is that observers are guilty of trying to compare the 24-year-old with the incomparable, leading to unrealistic expectations. Illarramendi is not and never will be "the next Xabi Alonso," as many were so desperate to suggest when he first arrived at Real Madrid. Nor does he hold any great resemblance to Bernd Schuster, with whom he was juxtaposed in earlier years. The Basque connection has naturally led to the Alonso comparisons enduring longer, yet they are just as unfitting as those with the German. The strengths of Illarramendi's game are significantly different from those of Alonso's, and the young midfielder himself commented as such to El Pais in June 2013.
"I don't have the long passes of Xabi Alonso -- few players in the world do. Sometimes I don't quite make [that pass] when switching play. My game is much shorter. Long balls aren't my strength."
Even in the most attack-minded of teams, midfielders like Illarramendi rarely catch the eye, and that often leads to confusion over what their real purpose is. Sergio Busquets -- with whom he has much more in common than Alonso or Schuster -- was initially criticised by some Barca supporters because he didn't make the surging runs of Yaya Toure. Yet the then-rookie still kept the Ivorian on the bench for big games under Pep Guardiola. Observers eventually woke up to the Catalan's real qualities in constructing play and maintaining order, but it took some time.
Illarramendi's departure from Real Sociedad after a relatively insignificant 56 senior appearances perhaps explains why many are also mistaken in their expectations of him. His game is, in his own words, to move the team forward or add a bit of a pause where appropriate -- not to run up and down the pitch. The wonderful thing for Ancelotti is that's exactly what Real Madrid need right now.
With Kroos, Isco, James Rodriguez and Luka Modric already at the Bernabeu, the Champions League holders don't require another playmaker, but they do require someone who is more prepared to do the dirty work. That doesn't necessarily mean diving into tackles or the other blood-and-thunder cliches attributed to midfield pivots, but it may mean holding a position and resisting the temptation to surge forward with the others. Or responding to receiving the ball by quickly releasing it short to another, better-positioned player, rather than trying to pick out an unnecessary cross-field diagonal.
Illarramendi will never be the midfielder who provides the final ball that leads to a goal, but he will quite frequently be the player whose sharp, well-weighted pass made sure that the playmaker was in the perfect position to supply the assist. If the playmaker's risk doesn't pay off and the ball is lost, he knows that with Illarramendi behind him, the team will have a better chance of recovering possession once more. He provides the safety net and confidence for other players to do the more risky work.
The harsh reality, however, is that at Madrid at least, Ancelotti has favoured the risky option over restraint. This is, after all, a man who opted to play Xabi Alonso as a sole midfield pivot when in the past coaches like Vicente del Bosque and Rafa Benitez thought it wasn't worth the risk due to his lack of mobility. Playing Angel Di Maria as an inside midfielder, equally, was hardly the most conservative of moves.
It wouldn't be a huge shock, therefore, if Illarramendi is handed a cruel return to the bench against Villarreal, even if supporters, encouraged by his display against Elche, want to see more of him. In a poll on Marca's website this week, 79 percent from a nearly 8,000-person sample said he should keep his place in the team against Villarreal. Will Ancelotti heed their call? For once, the populist option could be the smart one, and looking ahead to tougher opponents, a better bet in the long term.