Madrid played its best league game without pure centre-backs, with two inventions like Carvajal and Tchouameni. Between the two, they only had four games in that position, but the whites beat Girona 4-0 without conceding a shot on goal. The episode summarizes the resistance and adaptation of a team that suffered three cruciate breaks (Courtois, Militão and Alaba), and where the loanee Joselu arrived instead of Benzema. Under the leadership of Carlo Ancelotti, the coach invented the killer Bellingham convinced Vinicius to attack the center more, and even discovered a solvent goalkeeper in Lunin.
Lunin’s discovery
He did not change his impassive facade, but after three inconsequential courses he was recognized as a reliable goalkeeper. His case symbolizes this Madrid of a thousand solutions. It was the surprise that no one saw coming. Until this day, Lunin’s save percentage (77.6%) was the best in the championship. “We have discovered a goalkeeper who gives us confidence,” Ancelotti admitted a couple of months ago. Until the fall, it was almost the opposite: Kepa came into the race and reached the eleven in just 10 days after Courtois’ injury; And already in November, the coach announced that, when the Basque recovered from the injury he suffered then, he would return to the starting lineup. Nobody expected Lunin. But there began his great comeback and Carletto, sensitive to the new scenario, mounted a casting from which the Ukrainian emerged the clear winner. In the summer, his departure had been an option. He had only played nine league games since 2020.
The health of the sides
After a long time, Madrid had continuity with its two full-backs. Carvajal’s gluten-free diet confirmed its healing effects and Mendy emerged from the fatal sequence of injuries that led him to miss half of last season. The first, in addition to closing his flank and even playing as a centre-back, has scored five goals (four in the League), as many as in the previous eight seasons. He is the team’s first non-attacking scorer. The Frenchman, for his part, was invested by Carletto as “the best defensive left back in the world.” With him, Madrid has only conceded nine goals in 21 League games. In attack, yes, he scored one in the Super Cup and Ancelotti had to ask if it had really been him.
Rüdiger’s rise
From Militão’s misfortune emerged the Rüdiger that Madrid had looked for and had not yet found. After a lackluster first season, the whites found the centre-back they brought from Chelsea at Ancelotti’s request. He started behind the Brazilian and Alaba, but the former’s misfortune opened the way for him. He didn’t waste it. Forceful from above, fast in the open field and a limpet in the melee, Rüdiger has become the leader of a defense that has not conceded in half of the league clashes. And for dessert, he scored Manchester’s final penalty, which he agreed to take after Valverde’s step back. Eccentric but very discreet with his life, he has entered the catalog of choirs and dances at the Bernabéu.
From Kroos-Modric to Kroos-Valverde
The young man and the veteran, the physicist and the ideologue. The two faces of a midfield that took another step in his announced generational transition. Kroos-Modric was over and Madrid moved towards a mix that strengthened the German because he found himself very protected by fresh legs. Carletto started the season by gathering the group of youngsters and with Kroos on the bench, but the quick inclusion of the German gave another flight to the midfield and confirmed the full validity of his architecture. At his side he always had the infinite mileage of Valverde, the only one in the locker room to participate in all the events. This time, the Italian did not demand goals from him, like last season, but rather that he tighten all the nuts in the midfield.
The unforeseen Bellingham
“Honestly, I didn’t know much about him,” Rüdiger confessed a few weeks ago about Jude Bellingham. The surprise was almost unanimous when contemplating this English boy who left his reputation for oldcome. Ancelotti adapted the system to bring him closer to the area (a new position in his career) and JB reciprocated with an overwhelming success: his 13 goals in the League until Christmas exceeded the 12 of his three complete seasons in the Bundesliga with Dortmund. And he still had time to cover the left wing due to the team’s suffering when defending the lateral centers. A month ago, yes, he warned that this work for everyone had made him lose effectiveness. He has only scored five goals since January.
Vini’s fan and the joint goal
Who was going to compensate for the 43 goals that were lost with the departures of Benzema (31) and Asensio (12), who had not produced their best campaign either, if no one world-class arrived? The question spread like oil. Carletto had proposed Harry Kane as a nine, but only Joselu arrived on loan. The solution, in an attack without a fixed reference, was first given by Bellingham; And starting in January, Vinicius turned on the fan, assuming the task of attacking more through the center (22 goals for the Englishman and 21 for the Brazilian overall, 31 between them in the League).
In his wake came Rodrygo and his streaks (17 and 10); Brahim’s efforts to convince the coach (sixteen); and a classic type of area like Joselu (14 and nine). The supporting actors finished off the task of the joint goal: Lucas Vázquez resolved in Vitoria, Tchouameni in Las Palmas and Mallorca, Rüdiger tipped Mallorca, Modric for Sevilla, Carvajal for Almería and even Güler for Real. Madrid’s 74 goals in 34 games are the highest number since the 82 in 2017-18, Cristiano’s last campaign.
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