“Sergio Ramos it is the face and the guarantee of the success of Real Madrid. Possibly the best center back in the world”. The Borussia Mönchengladbach website puts the focus of tonight's match on the white captain, who debuts in a Champions League that came from breech for the team with the defeat against Shakhtar. So Madrid walks on the wire in the first final half of the course, against an opponent short of stars and plenty of vigor who already tied in Milan (follow the game live on As.com).
Hazard has come to occupy the center of the scene. He has not played a game since August 7, against City, after a very eventful season. In fifteen months in Madrid he has spent 243 days out, 51 more than in his seven years in the Premier. The great reinforcement of last year has played only 37% of the games and 32% of the minutes, with one goal and seven assists on the balance sheet. He had never played so little in his eleven years as a professional. He did not fall below 35 games per year at Lille or 43 at Chelsea, where, in addition, he scored in six of his seven seasons between 13 and 21 goals. That ceiling was reached the year before his signing for Madrid. It is true that in 2017 he suffered his first serious ankle injury, but he underwent surgery in the summer and returned without sequelae in the next: 52 games and 17 goals. Nothing to suspect his collapse in Madrid.
Emergency side
Today he returns and it is possible that he will have a while in a regenerated team in the Classic. Lucas Vázquez, fourth plate, will be the right back due to the injuries of Carvajal, Odriozola and Nacho. Zidane already used him there in his first stage (in a Champions semi-final against Bayern) and in the second (the last four games of last year). Marcus Thuram, son of a legend, awaits you. It is also possible that Zidane, this time yes, set up a midfield with Valverde, Kroos, Casemiro and Modric. And ahead, Benzema is looking for a partner. Neither Asensio nor Vinicius left the Camp Nou strengthened nor those who come from behind press.
Borussia comes fifth in the Bundesliga. Last year he finished fourth, his best position in five years. Its squad is the fifth most valuable in Germany and it has not been threatened by relegation for a long time, but its heyday is far behind. Between 1970 and 1979 he won five leagues, two UEFA Cups and played in a European Cup final with two cult coaches, Hennes Weisweiler and Udo Lattek., that would end up later in Barcelona. Many of its figures also triumphed abroad: Netzer, Stielike and Jensen, in Madrid; Simonsen, at Barça; Bonhof, at Valencia. Others, like Heynckes or Vogts, finished their careers there. A legendary team that stood up to Bayern de Maier, Breitner, Beckenbauer or Gerd Müller. Since then he has only won one German Cup, in the Champions League he has not gone beyond the group stage and his subsequent stars were fleeting: Mätthaus, Enke, Effenberg, Reus or Ter Stegen came out at the first exchange.
Swiss and French
With Madrid It has been seen twice and in both it fell dramatically. In the 76th European Cup, after seeing two goals annulled at the Bernabéu with 1-1 after 2-2 in the first leg; in the UEFA Cup of 85, after winning 5-1 at home, they lost 4-0 against Madrid de la Quinta, in the biggest comeback in white history.
That past has little to do with this present. With hardly any signings, Rose has assembled a physical and vertical team that turns out. He brought that plan from Salzburg, with which he won two leagues, a Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League. Earlier, Rose had been Tuchel's assistant at Mainz. It has the base of the Swiss team (five internationals) and two French bullet trains, the aforementioned Thuram and Plea, plus Embolo, a Swiss tank that at the age of 17 was already playing for Basel, with 18 in the national team and which has remained in less than it seemed. Today he can be a substitute. Rose recovers Lazaro and is expected to order the team around its traditional 4-2-3-1, although this year he has already played twice with three center-backs. Finally there will not even be the 300 spectators announced in the stands, which takes away ferocity from a crucial visit for Madrid. Europe hardly forgives twice.