It was in the second half at La Cerámica and it seems that Madrid needs more than Faith Valverde energizing and oxygenated. Madrid’s midfield is beginning to show signs of exhaustion, especially in the first half of the 0-0 draw against Villarreal and the entire visit to Paris. That defeat in the first leg of the round of 16 against an individual exhibition by Marco Verratti reopens the debate on the need for the energy he can bring the little bird, a debate reinforced by the confirmed loss of Casemiro in the second leg (March 9) due to the accumulation of yellow cards. It is Valverde’s great opportunity.
Two of the players who did not come out particularly marked from the Parc des Princes match but who were gobbled up by PSG were Kroos (32 years old) and Modric (36). Incapable and with symptoms of exhaustionand that the Croatian had just rotated in Vila-Real, was one of the least productive meetings of both this season.
See the case of Kroos. It is the game (of which he has played this season as a starter) with worst passing percentage, one of its hallmarks in positive. Barely 90 percent Paris. The German made only 72 passes, an amount that he had only dropped twice in full games this season (71 against Rayo and 50 in the Clásico at the Camp Nou).
Kroos, Casemiro and Modric, with Messi nearby, in the match at the Parc des Princes.
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Modric’s case is not very different. Only 46 correct turnovers against PSG, his third lowest record of the campaign being a starter after the league match against Villarreal at the Bernabéu (43) and (like Kroos) the match against Barça (37). It’s not by chance.
“We have had more difficulties to get the ball than normal”admitted Carletto in the city of light after a 1-0 that left bruises in Madrid. “It is true that we have suffered in the middle without the ball, with the pressure on full-backs and midfielders. Our midfielders missed fewer passes than they did tonight”.
Three rehearsals before the big night
For Valverde it is the opportunity to begin to win the starting aspect. He has not chained two appearances in the starting eleven since December, in the 0-0 against Cádiz and the 1-2 against Athletic. In the Champions League he has been absent or a substitute in the last five white games. He was one of those who paid for the broken dishes of that disastrous 1-2 against the Sheriff, in which he was the starter. A possible new horizon opens up for the Uruguayan at a decisive moment. There are three league games (Alavés, Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad) until that PSG visit where he will compete to be the substitute for Case with Camavinga, one of those moments, and more with Modric turning 37 years old, that can change a career.