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With Inter about to get on the flight that would bring him to Madrid, Zidane took before the journalists the shortcut of the topic: “Every game, in this club, is a final.” Some more than others, one might say. With today's he exaggerated little. Madrid and Inter, favorites in the group, They reach the third day without winning and in serious danger of being out at the first change. It already happened to Inter last year and ended up in the Europa League that Sevilla would take away in the final. Now he is worse, with fewer points in his league and more losses in key positions (follow the game live on As.com).
Inter has been spent almost 400 million in transfers in the last three seasons to end the abusive hegemony of Juventus. That is the dream of its owner, Zhang Jindong, a Chinese businessman and politician with an 8,300 million fortune who has put his son Steven at the helm. Two seasons ago he hired Antonio Conte, one of those coaches with an immediate and short-lived effect. A character like his lifts a team upright, but is awkward in the locker room. Diego Costa, Courtois or Hazard know it, from his time at Chelsea. And Balotelli, Willian, Morata … And the Madrid squad feared it when it sounded like Lopetegui's relief. “Respect is earned, not imposed,” Ramos said at the time in an admonishing tone.
Conte's character
Conte reached the Juve bench, a team in which he played for 13 years and of which he was captain without being a great figure, and conquered three consecutive leagues in three years before leaving to direct the selection. Then he signed for the Chelsea Y won the Premier to the first of change. In the second year he won the Cup and lost the fight with the booth and the job. Last year, with Inter, he stayed one point behind Juventus in the League and decided to continue after thinking about it.
That expansive character, which Zidane must know well, with whom he shared a dressing room for five years, is not only intramural. Diagnosed “senile dementia” to Mourinho when he accused him of behaving like a clown in the band; it was voiced with Guardiola in a match against City; de Capello said he did not remember “his good game and yes the scudetti canceled”… He also gave precise instructions to his players on frequency, duration and sexual positions during competition time.
A team without aim
Keeping the locker room awake and making the 3-5-2 that accompanies him indecipherable to his rivals are his great virtues, but now things are not going as expected. They have only won one of the last six games, Inter have seven points less than last season at this point and will not have Lukaku. The Belgian, who was already a starter at Anderlecht and the national team at the age of 16, scored 23 goals in Serie A last year and he led a career that was fading at Manchester United. Despite this, Inter paid 74 million for him and it worked. His casualty is crucial, because the second gun, Lautaro Martínez, is jammed. He has not scored for a month (five games). And Alexis, another of the headdresses, has not been released either. Eriksen is a phantom signing and Skriniar, one of his centrals, has just overcome COVID. He creates more than he produces: 43 shots against Borussia Shakhtar to not win.
Kroos in command
The pandemic has also cleaned Militao out of the game, but Madrid has improved in recent times and will be able to present an eleven very similar to the gala. He expects Lucas Vázquez to recover and with his changes against Huesca Zidane was portraying the eleven. He booked Kroos out and changed Valverde and Casemiro. They already have the center of the field. He also replaced Hazard and Asensio, which suggests that he has an advantage over Modric, who played the entire game. And Varane and Mendy will recover their place of holders. Benzema, who has scored three goals in the last two games, continues to be the burning nail.
Despite being a classic in Europe, Madrid and Inter have not seen each other in the 21st century. In the XX, the Italian team won more games (7-6), but lost more qualifiers (five) than it surpassed (one). The double duel now will be almost that: an all or nothing.