Elite coaches tend to say that one of the things they like the most about their job is having to choose eleven players from the squad to form a line-up, although that means having to leave 13 or 14 players between the bench and the stands.
The problem, technicians often argue, comes when injuries prevent them from using all of their team members. And that is precisely what has happened to Zinedine Zidane throughout the 202/21 season. Until today.
For the first time so far this season, the Marseille coach has his entire squad available to face the next game. Martin Odegaard, Eden Hazard, Mariano Diaz and Luka jovic, the last to go through the infirmary suffering from different physical problems, worked at the same pace in the training session this Friday and could enter the call to travel to Eibar for the clash this Sunday in Ipurua if it considers it appropriate Zinedine Zidane.
This good news also comes at the best moment of the Real Madrid season, as the Whites have four consecutive victories that have allowed them to cut points with the head of The league and get into the round of 16 of the Champions as first of the group.
Varane, Modric Mendy, Courtois Vini and Rodrygo, the only ones who have not fallen
The plague of injuries and coronavirus infections that have decimated Madrid this season has forced Zidane to having to use a very recognizable homogeneous block to be able to overcome the most difficult encounters. Courtois, Mendy, Varane, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric and Benzema have been the backbone of a team that during various phases of the course has not been able to count on important pieces such as Carvajal, Bouquets, Valverde, Odegaard or Hazard.
In fact, there are only five players in the entire Real Madrid squad who have been available in the 19 games that Madrid have played so far this season: Thibauth Courtois, Raphael Varane, Luka Modric, Ferland Mendy, Vinicius and Rodrygo. The Belgian goalkeeper is the only one who has played every possible minute while the French center-back has played practically everything, since Zidane It has only given him rest in the confrontation with him Huesca in Valdebebas, where he was a substitute and did not have minutes.
Modric is, along with Courtois, the only player in the first team to have participated in the 19 games that Madrid have played this season, starting 15 of them.
Mendy, for his part, he has rested in three league games so as not to saturate his fragile muscles. The French side, increasingly settled in the left-handed lane, was a substitute against Valladolid, Cadiz and Valencia. Of the three parties without Mendy, Madrid lost two.
In the case of young Brazilians, both have been able to be at the disposal of Zidane in the 19 games of the season. So much so that Vinicius has participated in 17 games (he only missed out on playing against Betis). Rodrygo, on the other hand, has had minutes in the six games of Champions but in the League he was left without playing in four: Betis, Valladolid, Cadiz and Villarreal.
Lucas Vazquez, whose prominence has grown exponentially as the course has progressed, only lost the match against Real Sociedad on the first day due to a muscular mishap.
At the gates of 2021, and with all the players safe and sound, Zidane opens up new problems and questions. Blessed are they to him.