From the ogres to the extreme north

The plain arrives for Madrid, which has not been a shooter this season, and will not be Hazard, which in Ipurua was closer than ever to its price thirteen months ago. He already trains with a certain normality, But after nine injuries, Madrid treats him like porcelain. Vinicius also fell, due to an upset stomach, and Isco, with a blow to the ankle. So the traffic light is green again for Asensio.

The Spaniard takes the whole course to the tail of the peloton despite the fact that Zidane does not throw in the towel. He put him in ten of the twelve games last season, upon his return from the very serious injury he suffered ten months earlier in the United States. And he has insisted with him on this without success, to the point that He was a substitute in the four giant games of the last eleven days. In the moments he had against Athletic and Atlético, he did not shoot on goal, did not attempt any dribbling and lost five balls. Not a goal or an assist in the entire course when he averaged nine of the one and six of the other in his three seasons prior to injury. The transition starts to get very long.

Rotation

It may also be time to spread out after four extreme games. Casemiro will return, after serving a sanction, and perhaps Kroos or Modric will stop. The 35-year-old Croat has played 26 games without a break in less than three months. Meanwhile, Marcelo, who has not played a minute in these four games of truth or in the Champions League, may have a choice. The less rival, the more opportunities is your horizon, although Madrid always feared the north in winter (follow the game live on AS.com). So there, in the territory of Ramos, Zidane will not play too much. He also fattens the bench, with Odegaard, Jovic and Mariano.

Opposite will be the Eibar, the team most peculiar of LaLiga, that brings a north wind and some surprising records: it would be bottom if only home games were counted (4 points) and it would be in the Champions League if only outsiders served (13). With one and the other travels in temperate zone, closer to Europe than to decline after a bad start. It is a good balance after having lost this summer to Ramis, Escalante and Orellana, three pillars.

The Bryan Gil factor

It makes up for almost everything Bryan Gil, perhaps the most brilliant Spanish footballer of his generation (2001 vintage). From Barbate, at the age of 19 he has already toured all the stations of the lower teams. Was European champion with the U19 and it is common in the U-21. Sevilla, its owner, gave it to Leganés last season, where he already scored a goal for Madrid. In Eibar it is essential. “How has Sevilla been able to let a player like that escape?”, His teammate Correa is surprised. Many see him as the new Silva, who already did his Erasmus here, with Mendilibar and an Eibar in Second. “It is different from what we have had and have,” says the coach.

An artist in the middle of a blast furnace team, the one who loses the most balls and recovers the most, the one who plays the longest, the second who sends the most centers, the one who scores 56% of the goals from set pieces and only one of this guise has fitted in, the one with the player who attends the most disputes (Kike). He arrives at the game with the defense very diminished. Correa and Oliveira are out, due to injury, and Burgos, their top scorer, due to suspension. There, Mendilibar, a tailor-made team coach, will have to mend a lot. Its survival rate (five and a half years in Ipurua) is well above that of its species.