Real Madrid-Granada Asensio takes this train

The happy advent of Madrid added one more for the cause, Asensio, one of those chosen ones that football sometimes swallows without being able to explain. In two details he briefly lifted a diesel Madrid to extend the party. It was a game without excesses. Madrid have not allowed them for a long time. And this commendable Granada is better resisting than biting. However, only the sprint was allowed to win, with a header from Casemiro, which gave his name to Madrid's sixth consecutive victory, and with the dessert from Benzema.

Zidane's bullfighting is worthy of the Cossío. Before the Astifian press muleteer not to explain that part of the squad does not play because it is not and reiterates that we are facing a temporary situation. A mea culpa to keep the locker room environment breathable but less draining every day. The transplants have produced rejections and the thing has ended up not touching anything so as not to break anything. So until the wind changes sit at his round table fourteen principals (fifteen if Asensio climbs and sixteen when Hazard is skilled) and who knows how long he will ride with them.

Against Granada he was a repeat coach again. Only Valverde entered for Zidane, which is to exchange resistance for science, and he insisted on Rodrygo instead of Vinicius, to mark where one and the other go in the ranking. But even these, the loyal ones, have their days. This time there was that start of sleep that has already emptied the box in Valdebebas this season on three occasions.

The Doors error

Varane took twenty seconds to make a mistake against Soldier. Those French fades are starting to look annoyingly familiar. The matter ended with Puertas before Courtois unopposed and a grotesque shot above the goal.

The Granada one looks like a long-distance hit. It has managed to take off and stay in the air, even with the overtime in Europe, an unknown territory. The secret is in the organization, in not falling apart in the face of adversity and in all-wheel drive players like Milla or Yangel Herrera. So Puertas' opening mistake did not take him away from his mission: to stay in the game with Madrid away from his area. And since Zidane's team does not have too much left, the first half was in tactics pulling a bore.

Each opening of Madrid to its extremes had a response of aid from Granada; every exit from behind the targets was legitimately hampered; every time Benzema came down to lead the orchestra, he found himself caged; every time Kroos wanted to find spaces, they were denied. So in the record of occasions there was just one shot from Benzema to the side of the net, another from Rodrygo at the hands of Rui Silva and a third from Kroos very close to the post. Not much for a team so fired up and so demanded by the table. Undoubtedly Madrid accused the loss of Modric, a footballer who dissipates foggy matches like this one. But also the low speed in the movement of the ball, the resignation of the game to space and that Diego Martínez has turned Granada into a bone. Madrid soon found out why their rival had four consecutive games with a clean sheet.

Before the break Rodrygo's ischium was seriously broken and Zidane preferred Asensio before Vinicius. That is where their tastes go, although the facts, until now, walked the other way. The relay did not add salt to the game before the break. Yes, there was room for controversy over a grab from Casemiro to Yangel Herrera that started outside the area but ended inside. The VAR made the statue.

The minute of glory

If Madrid did not lack dedication, it did fall short in imagination to refloat the meeting. Lawsuits like this are broken by agitation, not by boredom. And that agitation was carried under Asensio's arm, for the first time in months. So far he has left the impression of living well below his means, especially this season, in which Hazard's injuries opened a great window for him. In a minute he was up to speed. First with a high heel to the stick that preluded two tremendous stops by Rui Silva. All in eight seconds. And immediately, with a poisoned banana almost from the line and unbalanced by Kenedy. Luck that the Bernabéu has not enjoyed since Gordillo's time. Casemiro's header did nothing but honor the assist. A shot of conviction for the Spaniard that may change his luck. And a note that from the left he has more to come, even if he likes it less.

That goal definitely changed the duel. The superiority of Madrid was spreading. That avant-garde superiority, of the post-pandemic, with more control than occasions, with the calculator in hand, with caution ahead of emotion. Granada put in a winger (Soro), doubled its attack (Luis Suárez and Jorge Molina) and took out a central (Germán) to put his head in the other area. His luck in the hands of aviation, but what was found was a counter in the discount finished off by Benzema, who does not miss an appointment. In this Madrid, excellence is resistance.