Madrid has been on the January slope for a month. Zidane's little faith, justified or not, in what the bench offers him has generated a real squad of just 14 regular troops And that, between lack of rotations and the resistance of the Marseillais to exhaust the five allowed changes, leads to a Madrid to which the second parts of the matches involve you climbing a mountain pass. Against Eibar he only gave way to two changes of refreshment (Asensio and Valverde) and resisted, but it begins to be a danger sign …
Because Madrid he begins to lose control of the ball on a regular basis when he begins to expend energy. So says the difference between possession of the ball in their last four games from the first to the second half. In the Pizjuán it was the most striking, it fell from 44% in the first 45 minutes to 31% in the second half. But it also happened to him in the derby (from 61% to 51%), against Athletic (from 73%, a monologue, to 64%) and this past Sunday in Ipurua, with similar channels. From 71% to 61%. This was reflected in the fact that Madrid did not manage to kill the game until discount and with Eibar dangerously hovering 2-2 that would have destroyed the fast 0-2 white.
Just look at the Champions League too. In the last two games, the defeat in Ukraine against Shakhtar and 2-0 at Mönchengladbach, the rivals surpassed Madrid in the second half by far. The Ukrainians ran 2,471 meters more in the second 45 minutes than Zidane's team, who had beaten Shakhtar by 1,870 meters in the first. Against Gladbach, the difference was even greater: the Teutonic players covered 2,969 meters more than the Madridistas in the second act …
A calendar that weighs a ton
Zidane has been making constant references to “fatigue” that plagues his team because the calendar has been weighing him down a ton. Madrid have played 9 games in the last 30 days and will play again on Wednesday against Granada. It will be 10 games in practically a month, 33 days to be exact. Then there will be a week until Elche, but January will not be more benign than the Spanish Super Cup and the Cup.
Grégory Dupont, Madrid's physical trainer, gives instructions to Hazard before Real Madrid-Inter in the Champions League.
JAVIER GANDUL
Although Grégory Dupont, the physical trainer of the Madrid team, estimates that a recovery period of between 72 and 96 hours “It seems to be enough to maintain the performance” of the footballers, yes that “the risk of injuries increases”. The numbers appear to apparently contradict that claim. The team has to get in saving mode in the second parts and the physical ailments do not stop accumulating (Hazard, Carvajal, Valverde, Odegaard, Benzema, Nacho, Odriozola …) and Zidane has decided to stay with his veteran praetorian guard. As long as the body holds.