Morales against Karim Benzema: make way for artillery

Levante have won three of the last six games with Madrid and Morales scored in the three victories, whose command begins to be eternal. Last February it renewed until 2023 and his continuity was ensured at least until he was 36 years old, a fair reward for a late-maturing footballer still capable of reaching a top speed of 35 kilometers per hour. He did not debut in First until he was 27After spending two seasons in the subsidiary and one on loan at Eibar, but last year he scored 14 goals, his usual ceiling in professional football. In this he already managed to score in Cádiz.

Morales is the great threat to Paco López's team, very little reformed and with two sensitive casualties above. Soldier, one of his signings, broke for a month and a half at the premiere. Dani Gómez, for three weeks. Both went through the quarry of Madrid, as Melero or De Frutos, who will be headlines today. Even Morales got to try the white child. Levante always liked that fishing ground and it paid off (follow today's game live on As.com).

Campaign, the 'signing'

The team of Paco Lopez offers few secrets. He presents an open and courageous football that has allowed him to stay in the First Division with a coach who three and a half years ago he took the team with an acting air And it has given it character and results. His weak points are set pieces (second worst team in this chapter last season) and forcefulness. His strength, the attack: between Morales and Roger Martí, his attackers today, they scored 25 goals. The third man is Campaña, who last season fell from the sky to the ground. In autumn he made his debut with the National Team. In November he was injured and did not play again. Now he is ready again in his role as the most influential player in a team with great stability in the First Division (only one decrease in eleven years).

Like Madrid, it is still pending the market. Seeks accommodation for Rubén Vezo and Sergio León, which do not count for Paco López, and is testing the signing of a central defender after an irregular preseason, with four victories, three defeats and a draw.

In Madrid the setbacks of the past year are repeated. Kroos, Ceballos, Mariano, Marcelo and Mendy are still out, and Modric joins the list, crucial player. In his eight years at Madrid he has only played less than 40 games per season once. In the past it was 48. His natural replacement seems to be Isco, with whom Ancelotti applies the memory effect. In the two seasons of the first stage of the Italian he scored 17 goals. Then it has been declining precipitously. Last year he was the eighteenth player in the squad in minutes and only played ten games as a starter, but with Ancelotti he was already in the eleven of the two pre-season friendlies and had a few minutes in Vitoria. Asensio, whom Ancelotti looks for a place in midfield due to excess attackers, is plan B.

Bale and Hazard

Carvajal also returns, after a season with five injuries that only allowed him to play 15 games. It sounds like a signing. The Italian will play little of the rest, although Vinicius, who comes out to ten dribbles per game, proved in Mendizorroza that he is doing better than Bale. However, his position is Hazard's and the Belgian needs activity to return to his happy past. Since January he has only scored two goals and the two worst scoring seasons of his career coincide with his stay at Madrid.

In any case and waiting for the wind to change in the Mbappé case, the defense and Benzema are the two great assets of Madrid. Saving back partially lessened the devastating effect of Cristiano's departure. It was with Ramos and Varane and now Nacho and Militao are forced to repeat. And above, almost everything has had to do the best benzema. He already signed a double in the opening match, which is nothing more than the reflection of a trend. In the last three leagues he signed 21, 21 and 23 goals. The irregular genie now works like a Swiss watch. One in three goals for Madrid were his doing in that league triennium. An extremely exaggerated dependency that seems difficult to correct without signings. But Madrid only has one in mind: it will be in Mbappé or no one. And nobody scares.