He Real Madrid faces the visit of I raised to the Alfredo Di Stéfano of this Saturday in one of the most delicate moments of the season and with the obligation to win yes or yes so that the Athletic don't keep escaping to the front of the table. The white team comes from falling in the Copa del Rey in a bad way and achieving a balsamic victory in Mendizorroza and he needs to link good results in order to find his best version for the knockout round of the Champions before him Atalanta.
However, the team of Zidane is in box. The outputs of Odegaard and Jovic as yielded to Arsenal and Eintracht respectively, the loss of Nacho (and Zidane) by coronavirus and lesions of Rodrygo, Valverde, Bouquets, Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez They leave the squad with only 16 members of the first team available for the league duel against Levante.
Especially worrisome is the casualty rate in the white rear, which will force Zidane and Bettoni to improvise a defense that, except for surprise, will be unprecedented in Real Madrid. The absences of the three most used players in the right-back position (Nacho, Lucas and Carvajal), leave Odriozola almost as the only alternative in that lane. The other option is to place Mendy there, but that formula was already used this course once with a disastrous result: Madrid lost 2-3 against him. Shakhtar in his debut in the Champions. That day Varane and Militao they formed the axis of the rear and Marcelo acted as a left-handed side.
What is taken for granted is that Militao and Varane are the starting centrals against Levante, which would cause the Brazilian to chain his third title in a row after the cupbearer fiasco and the convincing victory against Alavés. Mendy and Marcelo They will compete for a place on the left wing but everything indicates that it will be the French who will be in the game again.
If the defense ends up being formed by Odriozola, Varane, Militao and Mendy, it will be the first time that the four coincide. The last time he played an unprecedented defense was very recently, against Alcoyano. That fateful day for the whites they played Odriozola, Mendy, Chust and Marcelo. Bad omen.