Zidane's 'sudoku' returns in the center: Kroos, Isco, Modric …

While the club and Zidane continue making designs and casting numbers for the future in terms of transfers (Pogba, Camavinga …) today rules. And there the French coach cannot trust the dynamics that the team brought: the break has meant a long period apart and your midfield is one of the settings that require your attention. Although the Marseillaise insisted during training that he wants to have the wardrobe (“I need you all,” he repeats) you also can't experiment too much when putting together a consistent puzzle. The League is playing. Casemiro and Fede Valverde have an advantage, but depending on whether Zizou takes a risk with a 4-3-3 or accommodates a 4-4-2 to solidify the team, there is a nebula of white midfielders in different situations to play this Sunday against Eibar (19: 30 hours)…

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Casemiro and 'El Pajarito' do tandem

The Brazilian is the one who plays the most (3,120 '), does not want to stop And Zidane doesn't see the need for it. Fede Valverde has had some small physical problems during this mini-season to resume soccer, but he is there to play and the statistics are revealing: starting, Madrid only loses 8 percent of the games to the Uruguayan. When not the case, that number is multiplied by three. And against Eibar, on November 9, he made his first goal as a Real Madrid player …

Kroos, suspicions and fidelity

Kroos has lived several seasons in one, even before Covid-19. It started, rare for him, as a scoring tornado and as part of the sacrosanct midfield trio for Zidane, alongside Casemiro and Valverde. But the substitution at the derby break against Atlético, City and the substitution in the last pre-David-19 game, that of Betis, left a strange situation. He starts as a favorite to accompany Casemiro and Valverde in a line of three, and during the break he has taken the opportunity to remember that he does not want to go anywhere and his future is tied to that of Madrid. But it remains to be seen if there is a cordial entente of Zidane with the German and those decisions remain as a prepademic memory.

Isco was coming very up

The Malaga player had played 232 minutes until his start by surprise on PSG's visit to the Bernabéu in the Champions League, but three and a half months later Isco had become one of the most prominent players in the Zidane scheme. And with more goals (three, among them the City goal). It must be remembered that against Betis, the last game, it was low for low back pain, but Zizou had given him the Classic. He had been playing the important games, a declaration of intent by his coach …

Isco, in a recent training session of Real Madrid.

Modric and the veteran quality minutes

The Croatian, despite being 34 years old, feels and is useful with the peace of mind that he knows will continue until 2021. His performance has gone from less to more and again his contest has been key in the best soccer moments of the team this season. Even on bad days like the last league against Betis, he saved a goal almost on the line as he was the only one who had lungs to follow an atomic backlash from Joaquín. In fact, so far this season before the coronavirus, Modric was the ninth player in the white squad most used by Zidane, with 1,904 minutes.. Zidane knows that the Balkan's veteran gives points in a season finale that is expected to be crazy.

James runs out of time …

It is the one that has it more difficult. There is no clean sweep with him because he continues as a substitute, but He has that promise that Zidane made to the squad. The load of matches, the heat … it all adds up so that Zizou has to pull more options than planned and there comes into play the possibility of making five changes. A new range of possibilities for James to play and improve his lineup. That is the objective, he will have to leave (contract ends in 2021 and if not transferred, Madrid could risk losing it for free) and for that has to show off.