Real Madrid will arrive in London for the Champions League quarter-final first leg match against Chelsea, with mixed feelings. In Vigo he won, added three points and took another step to win the League title; but he did it suffering, being subdued by Celta for too many minutes and showing a weakness in midfield than at Stamford Bridge It could cost him dearly against one of the most intense teams in Europe, led by a roadrunner called N’Golo Kanté.
Madrid already suffered it last year in the semifinals; Chelsea dominated the scene in the first leg and in the second leg, only their lack of aim prevented a deeper wound. He did it based on rhythm and pressure, something that Carlo Ancelotti tries to incorporate at times in Madrid, although at the moment he doesn’t finish it. And that is why one of the debates surrounding Madrid at this time, probably the most important for white performance in the rest of the coursegoes through the figure of Fede Valverde, who is crying out for a place in the starting eleven and whose competition in London seems essential for Madrid to match the physical battle in the middle.
The Uruguayan arrived from the break inflated with morale. He managed to qualify for the World Cup for his teamwas about to score a great goal in the first duel and achieved it in the second, taking advantage of the power of his right leg, the one that Zidane asked him to release more often, at the slightest opportunity. Perhaps because of this wear, added to that generated by the long intercontinental journeysAncelotti did not include him in the Vigo eleven, pulling the classic Casemiro-Modric-Kroos trio, much more made to have the ball than to run after it, especially in the cases of the Croatian and the German.
Valverde came out in the second half of Balaídos, he had 16 minutes in which he barely scratched the ball (he gave four passes, three good ones), as he mainly worked to give oxygen to the white medullary, with Celta pressing in search of 2-2 . That is the facet of Pajarito that would best suit Madrid at Stamford Bridge, his ability to cover the field, in defense and attack. Not in vain, he needs less time than Modric and Kroos to recover the ball and to enter a duel, among other concepts.
Carletto seems to go out of his way less for Valverde than his predecessor in office. Zidane had the Uruguayan at an altar, despite which he did not finish giving him ownership due to the validity of the trio of the three consecutive Champions. “He is very good and has always shown it, he is growing, he always advances, he always wants the ball. a modern gamer, with an important route in attack and defense and he is doing well. I’m happy for Fede, he deserves it,” Zizou said in 2019 about El Pajarito.
Ancelotti, Valverde and the 4-3-3
Zidane had fewer objections when it came to modifying the system to fit Valverde, and others; he did it, for example, to win the 2019-20 Spanish Super Cup, changing the 4-3-3 for a drawing with five midfielders. Ancelotti is contrary to this, he bets on the formation that has been giving him results throughout the season. “The idea is clear and this team has to play in a 4-3-3. Then there are games where you can play 4-3-3 without a clear winger.but the ideal system for this squad is 4-3-3″, he said in kyiv, before playing against Shakhtar.
In Paris, asked about the option of including a fourth midfielder to shore up the midfield, Ancelotti was clear again: “The system is not going to change, the idea could be to put a midfielder to play on the outside, but the conception of wingers that we have can allow us to play with two on the outside. But the system does not change“Thus things are, Valverde already knows that, if he ends up entering the eleven in London, it is very likely that he will do so as a false right winger, instead of Asensio or Rodrygo, so that Ancelotti takes advantage of his lungs in defense, integrating himself as a half more, and that in attack he unfolds into space, where he feels comfortable.