Benzema for the derby

Zidane recovered four of the nine injured he had yesterday. Benzema's turn hasn't come yet, with some muscle discomfort that already prevented him from playing in Bergamo against Atalanta and that also separated him from tomorrow's match against Real Sociedad at Di Stéfano. The Frenchman worked apart yesterday, touching the ball on the grass without too much intensity; Zidane does not want to take any risk with his best scorer and he considers that Madrid can survive against the San Sebastian team without him, as it already did in Italy. Zizou and Benzema think about the derby on March 7 against Atleti.

The Madrid coach puts the accent on the Wanda Metropolitano match, and with good reason: three points separate Atleti and Madrid at this moment, with the rojiblancos having played one less game. Waiting for what happens on this day, the 7-M derby will be vital to calibrate Madrid's options to fight for the League and Zidane wants to count at that moment with the author of 12 of the 42 goals of the team in the league (total 17 among all competitions).

Jovic's loan to Eintracht last January left Zidane with very little room for maneuver should Benzema get injured. as in fact it happened. The theory indicated that Mariano would take his place against Atalanta, but the coach (who has never been passionate about the Spanish-Dominican) opted for a 4-4-2 with two highly mobile points like Vinicius and Asensio, both wingers converted. The other option, who has already had minutes with the first team, is the castillista Hugo Duro.

Benzema, badly against Atleti

But no remedy could reach Benzema's share of importance in Madrid, especially since Cristiano left: he has scored 74 goals and given another 27 without the Portuguese's company, participating in a total of 101 goals. Since 2018-19, he has scored 28% of Real Madrid goals and participated in 38%. And now he points to Atleti, the great one that historically costs him the most: he has only scored five goals in 35 games for Simeone's team.