Real Sociedad-Real Madrid Jovic launches the getaway

Xavi’s is a poinsettia, which lasts a sigh. Ancelotti’s, from carnation up. Lhe night he lost Benzema, Jovic was resurrected, who attended, scored, was great from the back and from the front, within a team that lives in a state of grace. That non-existent bench was decisive in Anoeta. And not just because of the Serbian. Camavinga also helped shore up the win when Ancelotti decided to protect Casemiro for the derby. Madrid came out knowing the serious punctures of Barça and Atlético and put a pedal stroke that could be definitive with a smart match against a deactivated Real. Militao and Vinicius ended up deciding in the two areas while Modric and Kroos took care of the estate.

There are no more doubts. Ancelotti has decided to live from day to day, with a personal guard of ten and the monochange: Rodrygo or Asensio. Rodrygo came out in Anoeta, more sacrificed in defense. The plan is to make the good break with these and resist later with the others, with the risk that when the time comes they will be so rusty that they are useless. So I panicked when at 17 ‘Benzema left with one hand on his thigh and Real Madrid with both on his head. Nothing that was not seen coming. Ancelotti had to turn to Jovic, who had played 106 minutes spread over eight little moments. Even that comes out to this Madrid. Assist and goal. An appearance from the darkness.

On the other side was the Real, with an ambitious plan. His team idea is guessed by what he breeds (Oyarzabal) and by what he signs (Januzaj, Silva, Isak …), players more related to having the ball than to recovering it. It is easy to know what awaits the opponent.

Militao was the boss

With Madrid it is more complicated, because the style is to win and that makes him changeable. You can do it by playing well and with a dominant air, as at the beginning of the season, or badly, as against Sevilla and Athletic. Also with or against possession, protected by Rodrygo and Vinicius. It happened before the Real, which he waited in the middle of the field and looked for him in the other half. In the same game he is capable of both. Even in the same half game. It happened this time. He held out without going through more trouble than a header from Isak, a cross between a gazelle and a giraffe, who Militao took out in an impossible maneuver, and he released Vinicius, who had moments of great debauchery. But also the team also enjoyed times, the least, with long possessions. Neither one nor the other brought him easily before Remiro. A forced auction by Modric was the only example of those combinative moments.

La Real also lent itself in the first half to that open game, on a very long pitch, with comings and goings, with maximum energy expenditure, without finishing finding his Viking attack, Isak-Sorloth, or making Januzaj, another dribble craftsman, shine with persistence deficit. Militao was to blame for almost everything, in an exhibition of omnipresence, the army of the land and the air.

El festival Jovic

The second half brought the unexpected: Jovic, who was considered missing. In a minute He gave a goal to Rodrygo, with a bad shot from the right outside, and another to Vinicius, that this year he does not let one go. The Serbian’s maneuver, from Benzema’s repertoire, half a goal was magnificent. The other half was dispatched by the Brazilian with a low shot.

And without time to recover, the coup de grace, in a corner headed by Casemiro to the small area and caught by Jovic, in a gesture of genius and courage, virtues that were not supposed to him. Matches at that point no longer escape Kroos and Modric. They know it and Ancelotti knows it, who removed Casemiro’s airbag, when the fifth yellow was haunting the Brazilian. Camavinga proved that he is also valid for that and helped the team to reach the shore against a Real with more enthusiasm than plan. Madrid left with a 10-point advantage over Atlético and 16 over Barça. Even without Benzema he slept soundly.