‘Operation Brazil’ in Madrid

Ancelotti, after the uncertainty generated by Elche’s epic and unexpected draw at the Bernabéu and Benzema’s muscle injury (between today and tomorrow the Frenchman will undergo medical tests to determine the extent of his discomfort in his hamstrings), already knows with some relief that in principle the four Brazilians who travel to Ecuador today to play two qualifying matches with Brazil for Qatar they will have a return ticket in time to help the team in Bilbao next week. As is already known, Vinicius, Casemiro, Militao and Rodrygo have been cited by Tite, despite the fact that the canarinha has already secured her ticket for the World Cup event in Qatar, to play the two remaining games of her qualifying group. This Thursday in Ecuador (10:00 p.m., Spanish time) and in the early hours of Tuesday to Wednesday, 1:30 a.m., against Paraguay in Belo Horizonte.

Madrid has been negotiating with the CBF for days to get it to release at least its four players from that second game so that they could return with plenty of time to be able to travel to Bilbao on Thursday, the 3rd, to help the team in San Mamés in the great game of the Cup (quarter-finals, no second leg) against Athletic at 9:30 p.m. Faced with Tite’s refusal to accept that early return, Madrid has at least managed to get the CBF to be cooperative and that is why it will charter a charter flight as soon as the match with Paraguay ends so that the four Brazilians from Madrid arrive in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, day 2, the day before the meeting in Bilbao. It is estimated that they would arrive in Barajas at six in the afternoon at the latest. Logically, they could not train that day and would surely go straight to their homes to rest and balance jet lag (there are four hours less than here in Spain).

But if they do not suffer any blows and without injuries, that would allow them, provided that Ancelotti considers it appropriate, to get on the plane on Thursday morning, the 3rd, the moment chosen by the club to travel with the entire expedition to Bilbao. There they will even be able to do a recovery session in the gym of the same hotel, given that by playing very late (9:30 p.m.) there will be more hours to put themselves in the hands of the physios and loosen their muscles, which would allow them to face two games in less than 48 hours. Vinicius will have to dose himself less because being sanctioned for the match with Granada (Sunday, 6, at 9:00 p.m.), it will not have to be regulated. In fact, Madrid’s hope is that Tite will line up his players for at most 45 minutes against Paraguay, so that the effort load is minimized. Carletto can breathe with this ‘Rescue Operation’, given that Athletic demands a lot from its stadium (let them tell Barça in the round of 16) and the competition of their four Brazilians (especially Militao, Casemiro and Vini) seems essential to be able to eliminate Marcelino’s men with a single stake (there will only be round trips in semifinals). Today the four players will arrive in Ecuador and there they will know first-hand what Tite wants from them in these two games.

The one who will not return is Fede Valverde, given that Uruguay is playing its last qualifying options. On Friday they will play in Paraguay and in the early hours of Tuesday to Wednesday they have an appointment in Montevideo against Venezuela. El Pajarito will have to go all out to help the Uruguayan team in both ‘finals’.