Madrid could have made it 17 straight successes in La Liga last Wednesday (over two seasons), but missed out on a new Spanish record as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal. Then came a 2-2 draw at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands on Saturday and, on Tuesday, they had to settle for the same scoreline after Andre Schurrle's late leveller in Dortmund.
The home side had started strongest, dominating the early exchanges before going behind to a Cristiano Ronaldo goal, the Portuguese set up superbly by Gareth Bale's brilliant back-heel and producing the perfect response following the controversy surrounding his substitution and subsequent complaints in Las Palmas.
But a mistake from the returning Keylor Navas let Dortmund back in it, the Costa Rican's poor punch falling straight to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose header went in off the unsuspecting Raphael Varane.
At the other end, the France defender made it 2-1 and again it looked like Madrid would hang on to win - just as it had appeared on Saturday when Los Blancos were still in front with five minutes left.
But now, as then, it did not last. Although ahead twice in the game, there was always a soft centre without the injured Casemiro and that is a problem Zidane must solve. When the Brazilian limped off against Espanyol, Madrid managed thanks largely to the work-rate of Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez.
With Ronaldo and Bale in attack, however, there is less tracking back and James Rodriguez - despite his tremendous technique and obvious quality - does not provide much in the way of defensive stability.
Madrid looked at several possibilities to provide back-up for Casemiro in the summer transfer window, with Julian Weigl (who ultimately moved to Dortmund and played on Tuesday) among them. However, no such player arrived in the end and now Real are banned from registering new players until January 2018.
With Casemiro in the team, Zidane's side have won 18 of their 20 matches in all competitions - a ratio of 90 per cent. Without the Brazilian, however, Madrid have claimed only seven victories from 12 matches, losing one and drawing four.
One possible replacement is Marcos Llorente, but he is on loan at Alaves for the rest of the season and, with Zidane admitting that "nobody plays quite like Casemiro", the French coach may now be regretting the fact that no back-up option was signed in the summer.
On the plus side, at least, Madrid won't be playing any more teams wearing yellow for a while.
goal
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