Nacho Fernandez once again serves as a lifeline for Zidane. The youth squad, a multipurpose player in defense who has always given performance, will once again have a leading role. Injury to Bouquets opens a gap in the starting eleven: it will be the central one on the left side next to Varane until the captain recovers from his meniscus operation. It will be two months in which, if everything goes according to plan, will play eleven home games (counting the last one against Huesca and the next one against Getafe), nine of League, the derby against him Atlético de Madrid included, and two of Champions, both the first and the second against Atalanta for the round of 16.
He has already made it clear that he is recovered against him Huesca on the last day. Nacho missed more than two weeks of competition after catching the coronavirus. He returned to training in the last session before traveling. But, despite having been absent for so long, Zidane once again trusted him as a starter, and he did not disappoint. A great meeting took place in which recovered eight balls, camouflaging inactivity.
This season, his eighth as a first-team footballer, he has recovered the tone that allowed him to be a regular starter during the three Champions League period, and is redeeming himself from a complicated past course, in which he practically had no presence due to two injuries that They left him three months KO. It has already been played 897 minutes and has repositioned itself ahead of Éder Militao in the rotation after the Brazilian had a starring role at the end of last season.
He played from the start in the momentous victory against him Inter in San siro (0-2 and played all 90 '), being one of the best of the team. Weeks later, in an important match against him Seville In the league, he repeated in the eleven, he showed off again and the team won with a clean sheet as a visitor (0-1 and played 90 '). Zidane also bet on him in the Classic from the Camp Nou, but had to replace him after 43 minutes due to some discomfort.
In addition, his characteristics are complementary to those of his partner in the rear, Varane. While Nacho is a central more given to anticipation, able to defend by running forward, French is more comfortable in correction. This is one of the reasons why he performs better together with Ramos or Nacho and worse when he does it next to Militao, with whom he shares physical and tactical details.
LaLiga Santander
* Data updated as of February 8, 2021