Benzema has become the player around whom the entire Madrid attack revolves. His loss has brought, once again, the debate about what is the most appropriate solution to replace him. July Pulido points to Ancelotti as the “culprit” that before the loss of the French it is difficult to find a replacement: “This is indeed a must for Ancelotti, one of the few he has. When the time has come to replace a player like Benzema, he has no one ready to replace him. He has deactivated Jovic, Bale, Mariano or even Isco. The reality is that Benzema is injured and we are talking about the replacement being Valverde. You haven’t said Jovic or Bale… Ancelotti has already deactivated them all.”
Antonio Romero also blamed the Italian coach for the presence of players who came to be important, but who have not been up to the task and who do not present themselves now as a guaranteed alternative to the Frenchman: “I have told you, and I am trying to convince you, about what With a coach who was less protectionist than Ancelotti, players who have been unprofessional like Bale, Hazard or Jovic, perhaps at this point in the season they would already be out.
Antonio Romero dared to give the solution to Benzema’s loss: “I would put Valverde. It seems to me that he has been playing very good games and for me he has earned it. I think he is going to put Marco Asensio, taking into account that Bale and Hazard haven’t broken a sweat in recent games and there’s no news about Jovic and Mariano.”
Lluís Flaquer warned of the problem that Madrid is having without Benzema for the Clásico: “The absence of Benzema is so big that it allows us to say that Barça is going to present itself to the Clásico with a better ‘9’ than Real Madrid. It is a very big breakdown because he is the key player of Real Madrid, he is also of LaLiga. It seems to me an absence that balances things much more.”
Julio Pulido also spoke about Barcelona’s expectations in the Clasico: “I’m more along the lines that it’s a decaffeinated game. The only one who plays something is Xavi. If he wins against Real Madrid, it would be a very important accolade for his future project”.