Zidane does not believe in his bench

Real Madrid got a triumph worked and suffered from Balaídos against Celta (1-3), with goals from Benzema (2) and Asensio. Zidane had a starting eleven formed by: Courtois; Lucas, Varane, Nacho, Mendy; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric; Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius. Asensio came in from the bench to replace Kroos in the 71st minute … and nothing else. Zidane used only one of the five available changes, despite the fact that Madrid suffered and did not certify the victory until the final extension, with the goal of the Balearic on the backlash.

A small sample of a much broader reality: Zidane trusts the footballers on his bench just and necessary. In a season with very irregular physical preparation (due to the coronavirus and how late last year ended) and plagued with injuries, the Marseillais is not saving anyone much effort (not even the 'grandparents' of the team, Modric and Ramos), he is choosing the best eleven for each duel and hoping that they are the ones who will take the ballot forward.

Madrid have played 38 official games so far this season and, of all of them, Zidane has only used the five changes (allowed since the 2020 coronavirus stoppage to lighten the physical load of the equipment after such a long period of inactivity) five times: against Celta, Alavés, Huesca, Valencia and Cádiz. He lost three of those five games, proof that Zidane ended up shaking the tree out of necessity; not out of the belief that new faces could turn the tide.

In eight games he made four changes, in 20 he made three substitutions, on three occasions he stayed in two replacements and only made a single change twice, against Sevilla in Pizjuán (0-1) and against Celta in Balaídos. Zidane averages 3.29 changes per game this year, that is, a little more than allowed before the rule change last year.. Either Zidane does not see the use of said modification or he does not see a viable application among his pupils, to this day.

Changes, at least after an hour

In Vigo, the bench was made up of goalkeepers Lunin and Altube and Militao, Marcelo, Isco, Rodrygo, Asensio and Hugo Duro. Only the Spaniard came out and, in fact, only the Spaniard did warm-up exercises. Despite the troubles that Madrid went through in the second half, Zidane did not even threaten to use Isco or Rodrygo, who have had that role of revulsive in other days.

Zidane happens to be a trainer tending to immobility when it comes to changes: he does them well into the second half and the system rarely changes with them, they are usually a change of cards, man by man. The Marseillais makes the changes, on average, at 68 minutes, although the average of his first substitutions in each game is at 65 '; Zidane does not try to influence from the bench until at least an hour has passed, normally (not counting substitutions caused by injuries).