• Chronicle: Real Madrid chopped stone to defeat a granite Alavés
  • Controversy: Aleix Vidal's sleeve cut on Sergio Ramos' face
  • Opinion: Zidane repeats the script of her League

On the exit ramp of Mendizorroza, the Real Madrid bus waited under the downpour for Dani Carvajal to finish attending the media to head home. In fact, the expedition awaited its press officers and not the side, who stayed in Vitoria taking advantage of the two days off Zidane gave them after the victory. The reason was familiar, since his partner is the sister of Alavés forward Joselu , his brother-in-law at the time: «Let's eat now. We agreed that the winner of the match paid, so ... ».

Carvajal had to scratch his pocket and he did it with pleasure. For the victory of Real Madrid and because it was his goal that guaranteed the three points after a rough match, impossible to win without intensity, concentration and determination, features outside Madrid not so much in halftime games like this Saturday. The Alavés , a rock, demanded the most from Madrid, which did not advance until the second half, thanks to a goal from Ramos . The captain then gave the sand, committing a penalty that allowed the Alavés draw, but later Joselu's brother-in-law appeared to send the three points to Madrid.

They were all smiles on that bus. Peace and joy finally reign in the white team after a start of the season marked by the anxiety that led Zidane to enter the risk zone. That happened on October 19, after the defeat in Mallorca. Since then, with the locker room closing ranks with the Frenchman, Madrid has six wins and two draws, with a balance of goals of 23 in favor and four against.

It is not extraordinary that a club of the magnitude of Madrid chain a streak of that caliber, but it is that it does so with the variety of pieces that Zidane is using. «I have 25 players and I will count on all of them» , claimed the French coach, words that are reflected in facts. Mendy and Marcelo alternate on the left side, Valverde, Kroos and Modric split two seats in the center of the field, Rodrygo, Lucas Vázquez, Hazard and now Isco and Bale appear as Benzema's companions ... And, this Saturday, Militao and Areola were headlines. Of those 25 players mentioned by the coach, 22 already add more than 300 minutes this season (all but Nacho, Brahim and Mariano) and only three (Ramos, Casemiro and Benzema) exceed 1,500 of a total of 1,800.

"We will all be important"

«Now we are all more involved in the team. Zidane has us all plugged in and is reflecting in the field. His speech from day one is that we are all going to be important and have our moment. And we believe him because that's how it is, ”explained Carvajal as spokesman for the locker room, using a word,“ plugged in, ”which was also going to appear in Zizou's speech. «It is not that we have changed, it is that we are all much better. The changes that do not alter the dynamics at all and that is very important, ”explained the coach, who praised the work of Militao and Isco, two of the headlines with less prominence in the first weeks of competition.

Since last spring Zidane warned that his priority was to be the League he now leads, at the expense of what happens this Sunday at the Wanda. And to achieve it, the Frenchman seeks to apply the same recipe as in 2017. That season, 21 players (all except Mariano and Coentrao) exceeded 1,000 minutes thanks to a rotation policy that led him to double. "The important thing is that everyone is plugged in," Zidane insisted , linking with what he had expressed in the previous one about Vinicius : "He won't leave in January. It is not being his moment, but it can be soon ».

The only player that seems - again - outside the general dynamic is Bale. In Mendizorroza he started almost two months later and re-signed a tribute to inconsequence. Zidane, in spite of everything, maintains the hope that the Welshman will also "plug in", because he knows that this may be the secret to end the recent league hegemony of Barça. With meetings like Vitoria's, that horizon looks much clearer.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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