It is one of the situations that Ancelotti is managing carefully, who has roughly defined twelve potential starters (the big question is between Valverde and Rodrygo) but the Italian has a contingency plan in the white defense. He will wait for Alaba, but he wants the team that plays on Friday against Betis (9:00 p.m.) to be the same as in the final in Paris. A dress rehearsal against a powerful rival that Alaba points to. But Carletto he’s watching his back… tuning Nacho.
The starting image in the Nuevo Mirandilla dislocated many, starting with Cádiz itself, but it was not something random. Ancelotti He altered the natural position of Jesus Vallejo from the starting eleven to move him to the right side and moved Lucas Vázquez from that role of ‘two’ to the left side with a clear intention: for Nacho to practice alongside Militao in the center of the rear. It is no coincidence, because the natural option was for Nacho to play ‘three’ and Vallejo and Lucas to play their usual roles.
The garter belt so premature allows Ancelotti these things. ‘Disorder’ the defense looking for an ulterior good. Alaba will play this Friday because he is recovered and because if he didn’t he would be planted in Paris fulfilling a month and two days since his last game (on April 26 in Manchester, when he relapsed from the adductor), too much inactivity to have to deal with an attack like Liverpool’s with so much nerve, speed and continual exchange of positions. There is also the possibility, even, that this absence from filming could penalize him in the form of a physical problem and condition the team.
Madrid formed in Cádiz with Nacho as the capital and central defender, Vallejo was the ‘two’ and Lucas, the ‘three’.
ALVARO RIVERO
Tests in different scenarios
For another assumption, that of not finishing deciding on this hesitant Militao during the last month and a half, he has also prepared that solution with Nacho. For this reason, although for the Derbi Ancelotti did not want to alter the defense so much given the always special nature of this type of game and used the Complutense as a full-back, the exam as central, his, he has been passing it with flying colors. First in the 3-1 against City with extra time included from which he came out touched and in addition to Cádiz he also played as a central defender against Levante. Accumulating sensations and minutes for the role before which he could be seen at the Stade de France.
In the minutes after the 1-1 in Cádiz, Ancelotti appeared as usual before the media and the question of Nacho was one of those that were raised. Do you doubt whether to give him ownership in Paris? “When you have a footballer like Nacho, you always have doubts”, was the praising response of the transalpine. “This template is spectacular”. As was the case with Zidane with him, Ancelotti feels safe in Nacho’s hands.