The 'recoverable' of Zidane

The pandemic turns football into unpredictable territory and squads, something to be pampered to the fullest. Zidane he knows it and in addition to involving homegrown players (Arribas, Marvin, Blanco …) he will have to recover members of the first team who are very secondary in his plans. “I need you all”, the Marseillais told the squad during the final stretch of the Coronavirus League and in this the need is even greater. Then the white team only had to face 13 league games and the decisive trip to the Etihad. Now the jump is triple: League, Cup and Champions. Much front with only one real addition, that of Odegaard. Because, Zidane has to do management wardrobe with players like Jovic, which is still chaotic, Isco, which appears and disappears more than ever from eleven, a Odriozola to the one who opened the Bayern door in the middle of last season and two youth players already 'veterans', Lucas Vazquez Y Nacho, with futures more than uncertain. Zidane has to get them all back …

The Odriozola affair is the most obvious of all. Carvajal will be out for two months and the San Sebastian side was designated for Zidane just a year ago in the bump in Mallorca. Odriozola also knows that the first option for the club and coach to strengthen the full-back was Achraf but in the end it was sold to Inter, mainly to make money and not for strictly sporting reasons. Zidane has begun to work on that recovery of Odriozola from the 1-0 at Valladolid two days ago. He gave Carvajal a break but finally gave way to him instead of the exhausted San Sebastian. Luck is also not on the side of a player who has not yet asserted the 30 million that cost the club two years ago. Without him two starter, Odriozola missed the opportunity to repeat in the starting eleven of 0-2 against Levante due to a hip problem …

Jovic, a hot potato to cool

It seems, from the outside, that Zidane did not know what to do with him. In summer a loan was sought last minute (Milan) that did not work, his return to work in the preseason has not been to the taste of Marseille and he does not raise his head with Serbia either. In the league debut Zidane did not make him warm up despite the 0-0 against Real Sociedad and was even asked about it in the press room. “Do you have something against Jovic?”, They Asked. Zizou escaped as best he could. “I have nothing against any player, it was for the drawing and Karim was fine.” The Madrid coach tried to reactivate the Serbian in his own way, put him in front of the spotlight, placing him as a starter three days ago at Villamarín and Jovic it was more of the same: he was missing. In 71 'he went to the bench. Zidane, meanwhile, puts pressure on him with Hugo Duro, the new forward of Castilla with experience in the First Division and the Europa League, who has been chosen to enter Madrid's A List for the Champions League.

Isco and his magic appear and disappear

The presence of the malagueño is conditioned to the drawing, if Zidane opts for the 4-4-2 (where Isco usually enters) or a 4-3-3, in which he does not fit. Isco had been a footballer very much liked by Zidane in big matchesThere is the final in Cardiff or the duel with PSG at the Bernabéu last season in a movement that surprised Tuchel. That has been decaying. He did not play City at the Etihad in the game that closed last season and in this he has only been headline once. Now, Odegaard makes it even harder for him. Against Levante, Isco played only two minutes. The presence in the last meters of the midfielder from Arroyo de la Miel was transformed last season into european goals PSG and City, without going any further. Goals, what this suffering Madrid needs to avoid unocerism.

Lucas, future free agent (or not)

A peculiar case is that of the Galician. It's in his last year of contract and the club has not made any move to continue beyond 2021. The youth squad has played it and has preferred to stay, has put sporting issues before economic ones (Last month he received a succulent offer from Qatar). If things continue as they are, July 1, 2021 will be a very special date for Lucas because he will be 30 years old on that day and he will be separated from Madrid for the first time since he landed from the Ural of his land in 2007. For Zidane he has come always the 12th footballer of the team, for being a multipurpose player and his influence on the dressing room. But last season their presence became very small, barely 1,031 minutes throughout the campaign. Seventeen madridistas played more than him. His asset, in addition to the departure of Bale and Brahim that opened more space for him, is the conversion into a right-back.

Nacho and the search for the central room

The Complutense is life insurance and Zidane is delighted with him and the feeling is mutual, but his condition as a central fourth is threatened in the future by the club's search for another young defender who will compete in the coming years with Militao. Madrid stopped any attempt this summer due to the economic crisis, but the next one hopes to resume that issue and Nacho, with a contract until 2022, is aware. Upamecano (Red Bull Leipzig), Gabriel (Lille) … there are several names that the entity used before the pandemic broke out. Upamecano, the favorite, will continue to shoot in 2021. Nacho, meanwhile, does not lower his benefits and what little they give him makes the most of it: against Levante blocked the bleeding on the right side White. “He is a great professional, he always competes and very well”Zidane said of him not long ago. The future is the future and Nacho has also been having offers in recent years (especially from Italy), but the present with an irregular and recently injured Militao happens to make the youth squad feel important again.