The Real Madrid he suffered greatly to take all three points in a hectic Classic but managed to lay down provisional leader thanks to the physical sacrifice of his players. The team of Zidane He was coming off a very demanding clash against Liverpool in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions (3-1) and the French coach decided to make only one change in the line-up that he took against Barcelona: Fede Valverde by Marco Asensio.
The bet came out to him as the Uruguayan was key in the 1-0 and was undetectable for the Barça defense acting as a midfielder and open striker on the right wing. However, Madrid was losing steam to the point that it fell too far back in the last meters to protect its advantage.
Lesions of Lucas Vazquez before the break (the rest of the season will be lost) and Valverde at game time they forced Zidane to put Odriozola Y Asensio. Then, in the absence of 20 minutes and with the 2-1, he made the risky decision to remove with a stroke to Benzema, Vinicius and Kroos, probably to save you a few minutes thinking about the game against Liverpool. In their place came three regular substitutes such as Mariano, Marcelo and Isco, who dedicated themselves to working for the team sacrificing themselves in defense and could hardly be seen in attack.
The white team, punished by the injuries of Ramos, Carvajal, Hazard, Luke, Valverde (and with Varane with covid) and penalized by the expulsion of Casemiro, Madrid ended the game with only three regular starters on the pitch: Courtois, Mendy and Modric. The rest of the players had to give up given the problematic circumstances: Odriozola, Nacho Y Militao they complied with a note in defense, Marcelo and Isco they lent a hand to Modric in the spinal cord and Asensio Y Mariano they tried unsuccessfully to catch a ball in attack.
For the second consecutive game in LaLiga, Zinedine Zidane made the five changes available to him. The Frenchman used the same formula against Eibar thinking of Liverpool and repeated against Barcelona, something unusual because Madrid averages about three changes per game.