The one that looms, in front of Cádiz, It will be Zidane's fifteenth post-virus FIFA match. Until October last year the French believed to have found the whip vaccine (not a single defeat), but behind that window fell in Mallorca with a mixed team of starters and substitutes. After the drink, Madrid went around Cape Horn, declined the second unit and chained 21 matches and three and a half months without losing. That put him on the path of the League. Now he is tackling the most difficult yet, because FIFA has given three matches in less than two weeks to the federations to compensate for the nine months of pandemic, extra punishment for the legs of the internationals.
However, for some reasons or others, Madrid have fared better. He lost twelve players, less than usual, but also two returned earlier of time and without playing. It was his two goalkeepers: Courtois, with discomfort, and Lunin, with coronavirus. Both are ready for today. Three (Casemiro, Valverde and Rodrygo) had to cross the Atlantic, a fact that is usually penalized by the trip and by the intensity of the World Cup qualifying duels in the Conmebol territory. Y four played the three matches of the window: Ramos, Varane, Modric Y Kroos. With Militao fresh out of an injury, refreshing one of the first two forces Nacho to pull. Maybe because of it Zidane rehearsed during the week with Lucas Vázquez as right back (Carvajal and Odriozola are still convalescing). There he played his last three games last year. Lopetegui also tried him on the job. Marcelo, other not selected, points to left side (follow the game live on AS.com).
Isco finds a place
Of the midfielders, the Isco is more rested, who stayed in Madrid, and that places him in a privileged position. And the most punished in minutes, Odegaard and Modric. The first one returned with a soleus injury was left off the list and the Classic will be lost. The second points to the bench. So it is promised remarkable rotation at the gates of an alpine week with the return of the Champions League (Shakhtar) and the Camp Nou Classic except in the attack. The three with the best prospects, Asensio, Benzema and Vinicius, had no FIFA commitments and aim to repeat. On them falls the responsibility of reversing the team's scoring trend, clearly downward. Eight of Madrid's last eleven victories were by the minimum, four 1-0. Since leaving Cristiano's club, the Madrid team sum more points than goals. That ratio, this year, is already 1.6 points per target, even higher than the 1.2 of last season. In the announcement He also entered, as third goalkeeper, Lucas Cañizares, son of the former Madridista and former international meta.
That Arteaga goal
He Cadiz carries 14 years without facing to the whites in Madrid. Yes, he did it at Carranza in the Cup five ago, in that famous duel that meant the elimination of Whites due to improper alignment of Cheryshev and almost the end of Rafa Benítez. In 13 visits to the Bernabéu just added a point, 1-1 in the 1991-92 campaign, with Kiko as the only forward for the yellows and Beenhakker in his second spell on the white bench. Arteaga, scorer that day, recalled this week in the Diario de Cádiz that up to eight teammates touched the ball before he scored: “On Canal + they chose the play as the best of the day. And that Cádiz was similar to this one, closed behind and with a lot of discipline “.
Alex's white past
Alex Fernandez is the soul of this newly promoted. A midfielder who was given a second chance by football. Madrid youth squad and two years younger than his brother Nacho, He was the European Under-19 champion and Ballon d'Or of the tournament con Spain in a team in which they were also Morata, Alcácer, Sarabia, Carvajal, Deulofeu or Campaña. He seemed fired towards the first team. Mourinho, in fact, tested him in a preseason but little by little his star faded. Sergio González edged him at Espanyol, he did not improve in Rijeka or Reading, his adventures out, and began to rebuild his career in Elche. This summer, Cádiz, in which it begins its fourth season, received offers for him. He had scored thirteen goals the previous year. The club referred to its clause 20 million.
Álex Fernández is the only Cadista player whose market value exceeds 2.5 million in a team that has won everything away and nothing at home, an extreme effect of football without an audience. Alvaro Cervera, who promoted the team on the fifth attempt, is the pattern of a stable project with eleven signings this summer, Negredo included. His team arrives in the middle of the table and with a victory in San Mamés with nine players. He is missing two starting defenders, Iza Carcelén and Mauro, but newcomers Alcalá, Jairo and Adekanye enter the list. A welcome and timely reinforcement.