Zidane's casting

It has not, of course, been the best week for Real Madrid. He added an important victory, the one suffered 1-0 against Valladolid on Wednesday, but he has lost four players in these days: Kroos, whose diagnosis was known on Monday; Hazard, Carvajal and, finally, yesterday, Odriozola. The Donostiarra, as announced by the club on its website, suffers a problem in the calf of the left leg caused by a blow in training on Friday. Although yours will be the shortest loss, around a week and a half, the setback forces Zidane to rethink what to do on the right side. Against the Levant (Today, 4:00 p.m., Movistar LaLiga), the Frenchman has three alternatives.

The first involves switch bands to Mendy, a solution tested on June 14 against Eibar at Di Stéfano. That night turned out marvelous, with a 3-1 that included Marcelo, in the left lane, as a scorer. There is a somewhat more natural option, that of Nacho, the boy for everything. In his last season he experienced a slump of minutes due to injuries and the arrival of Militao, for which the club paid 50 million euros and which covered his appearances in the center of defense. Now a way opens up the side, an area in which he has played in 33 matches with the first team, with three goals and two assists as an offensive contribution.

Militao, another resource for after the break

From the attack precisely arises the third possibility, that of a Lucas Vázquez in the process of reinvention. There he has found his site very sporadically, 11 times. In 2019-20 he did so in three league games (Alavés, Villarreal -from the bench- and Leganés) and in the Champions League in the final minutes against City, with Madrid trying to overturn Ederson's goal. That of Curtis, who fulfills a contract in 2021 and the club does not think about renewing him, He decided to continue because of the great confidence that Zidane has always shown him. He is, in fact, the eighth footballer with whom the coach has counted the most, with 154 encounters. This season, which may be the last in the club of his heart, he faces it with a total predisposition to play wherever.

An extra resource will be Militao, injured at least until the return of the national team break. In Porto, due to the return of Pepe, he went to the side, a demarcation in which he tested 15 times in Portugal. In Madrid, however, he succumbed to it in March at Villamarín. But before thinking about him, Zidane has to choose between Mendy, Nacho and Lucas Vázquez.