The prelude to the Champions that he Real Madrid lived this past Saturday in the duel against him Elche (2-1) did not exactly leave good feelings in the bosom of the white team. It was won but not convinced. There were doubts.
The team's play was rather poor, unable to create danger beyond the lateral centers and somewhat lacking in rhythm. All worrisome news just over 24 hours before the whites face the Atalanta in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions where the ZidaneYes, they defend a 0-1 in their favor.
But without a doubt, what worries the most is the lack of mordant in the attack, where only Benzema gives the stature already reached 20 goals this season with his double against him Elche. Nobody follows the rhythm of the French and the whites are entrusted to an accurate player who, however, needs partners to give their best version.
New drawing on the blackboard
With the scoring drought as the main problem to solve, Zidane could propose again before the Atalanta a 3-5-2 scheme, as I did against Elche, in which Luke
Vazquez Y Mendy be the lanes, Sergio
Bouquets act as a freed central and Varane and Nacho as fixers. With this formula, the whites would be more offensive on the wings and, above all, they would have more ball possession in the middle, something that he already looked for Zidane in the first leg in Bergamo giving ownership to Isco after several months in ostracism.
It would thus equalize the foreseeable proposal of Gasperini and ‘su’ Dea who have played with the same scheme for several years and which has allowed them to be one of the top scoring teams playing very direct football.
Hazard, Rodrygo or Vinicius
To all this, the doubt would only reside in Benzema's companion up front because, in the absence of Casemiro by sanction, it seems more than possible that Fede Valverde Whoever replaces the Brazilian from a somewhat more advanced position and with more arrival to the opposite area. And to take the lead, several players compete: Hazard, Vinicius, Rodrygo, Isco or Asensio, but only the first three seem to have more options than the rest.
The Belgian because of the curriculum that he treasures and because he has already made a couple with Benzema on several occasions. It seems to be fully recovered and, at least from the beginning to be replaced in the second half could be.
Confidence in Benzema's goals
While in the case of the Brazilians what they contribute are overflow and quality. Vinicius offers faster, more overflow, while Rodrygo is able to better combine and understand each other in the same language that he speaks Benzema.
Homework
As it is, Real Madrid will experience its last training session this Monday before concentrating on Valdebebas ahead of Tuesday's duel. For the first time in history, the Di Stefano will host a tie of Champions with a baggage of two victories (Inter (3-2) and B. Mönchengladbach (2-0)) and a defeat against Shahktar (2-3).
However, Real Madrid's home duties during the Champions are those of improving their last records in the round of 16 where they lost both in 18/19 against Ajax (1-4) and in 19/20 against him Manchester
City (1-2) of Pep Guardiola in which was the last game of Champions of Bernabeu till the date.