With the bitter aftertaste of one more backpack error that punishes unrepentantly throughout the season, the assault of Valdebebas It is presented as an opportunity to grow up, although there is a possibility -probable- that the date night will end up like Jonah in the whale's stomach. The company brings them in the Alfredo Di Stéfano (10pm, Gil Manzano, Movistar Plus), where the troop of Zinedine Zidane want to take a bite of this Athletic of defensive weaknesses, of creative deficiencies, but with a competitive character that never loses. The game is something else.
The meringues have solved with note their triple somersault in front of the Sevilla, Borussia Moenchengladbach and Atlético de Madrid in a few days. When they get serious and do not get carried away by the vaporousness of matches that do not have much emotional charge – as against Cádiz, for example – their effectiveness fades. When the batteries are put in, it can operate in roller mode. And more so now, that he has taken a run with these consecutive wins and they aspire as the one who most to win the league competition.
Possible new format
But even so, Real Madrid also shows its weaknesses when pressed, especially when the pressure is high and coordinated. And in that task Athletic has to take great pains, which can change the format on this early day -the nineteenth- due to the dispute of the Spanish Super Cup. Garitano He hinted at yesterday's press conference that this time there may be room to bet on the three centrals to make the fuselage harder against which the meringues will collide, always harmful in free kicks and corners.
And there is also the option of a modification in the engine room, given the tight schedule, the commitments that lie ahead and the physical merengue profile. Vesga and Dani García together again as it happened in Mestalla? It may be, as well as one of them being a substitute and Unai López and Unai Vencedor who takes over, especially the San Sebastian midfielder.
The ballot that awaits them lasts, like Unai Simon, who needs the fetish party to get the thorn out of the latest personal performances. In addition, it is an ideal setting to apply again. And the Capa, Yeray, Iñigo Martínez and Yuri – without forgetting De Marcos– they have another complicated ballot, like Nuñez if there are three centrals. By high there will be a succession of balls to the area. Lucas Vazquez will try one of your favorite plays.
Level duels
With the doubt of what will happen in the center of the field, it seems that the rest of the positions will be between Muniain, Williams, Raúl García, Morcillo, Berenguer and Villalibre in a match in which the physique and probably the defensive tickles of Carvajal and Mendy will have to be squeezed. Raúl can be hired again after his four straight start games on the bench. His duel with Sergio Ramos can be one of the poles of attraction in a silent setting, an overwhelming habitat last season and more permissive in the current one. Alavés won there, but the quota of errors from Courtois, that that day was sown. The normal thing is that it is a wall for Athletic and and for Raul Garcia, old acquaintances of his time at Atlético de Madrid.
“Why not win there?”
But it is not a question of maximizing white qualities either, but of emphasizing Bilbao's virtues, which have been able to complicate the existence of the greats, as happened last year at the Santiago Bernabéu last year or last season for Barça at the Camp Nou.
The bottle is half full in Athletic, as it was verified in Valencia, where a second part of the assault – forced by 1-0 – gave way to an ambitious team that was projected with many effective numbers and substantial speed. Can you do the same today? It seems more than unlikely, but there is nothing left to press. As Garitano said, “why can't we win there?”