The Bernabéu decides

The season enters a decisive phase for Ancelotti’s Madrid, which has the Bernabéu as the protagonist. Concentrated in fifteen days, The team will face five matches in which it will face the three teams that chase it in the standings, the first position of the Champions group will be played against Inter and it will also receive Athletic in a league classic. For this reigning first stage of the season, the Whites will have a factor in their favor: four of those five games will be at the Bernabéu. The next appointment will also be at home, against Cádiz. Five of the seven games that Madrid have left before the Christmas break will be played in Chamartín. The Bernabéu, where Madrid is undefeated in the league, sets the pace for the championship …

This Sunday (21:00) The curtain is opened by Sevilla, third placed and visiting the Bernabéu after six games without losing. Although the recent balance of the sevillistas in Chamartín is encouraging for those of Ancelotti. Before the draw that Lopetegui’s men scratched last season at Di Stéfano, Sevilla had been defeated from their previous 11 visits to the whites.

December begins with the visit of Athletic (21:00), in match of the 9th day postponed for the October FIFA dates. The lions have scratched two draws in their last three appearances at the Bernabéu. Madrid will catch up like this before visiting Real Sociedad (Saturday 4, 9:00 p.m.). The donostiarras are now second and have not lost from the first match. The Whites have only had one win and one draw in their last three visits to the Reale Arena, which will be the prelude to a great week at the Bernabéu. The first two major games after the pandemic.

Tuesday, December 7 (9:00 p.m.) those of Ancelotti will play against Inter the first place in the Champions group. A draw is enough for Madrid to go to the eighth as seeded. That week closes with the derby against Atlético, on Sunday the 12th at 9:00 p.m.. First against fourth with the classification now in hand. Madrid has taken the measure of its neighbor: it has not lost in the league since February 2016.

Once that queen stage of the calendar has been passed, there will still be one more game against the white fans before saying goodbye to 2021: against Cádiz on December 18 or 19. Still before the break, on the 22nd (21:30) Madrid visit Athletic in San Mamés in a match advanced by the Spanish Super Cup.

Better against those above

Madrid are undefeated at home in the league since they returned to the Bernabéu on September 12. He won with solvency Celta (5-2) and Mallorca (6-1), suffered to carry out the game against Rayo Vallecano (2-1) and was choked by visits from Villarreal and Osasuna (0-0 in both) . But the arguments for optimism outweigh. This Madrid performs better against those above than against those below. Last season he only lost to teams in the lower half of the table and this season he has won in the three duels he has played against the top seven (Betis, Rayo and Barça).