For a moment, at the beginning of the second part, the safety distances were in danger in the Di Stéfano gang, last Sunday. Triple change at Eibar, triple at Madrid, players warming up, Marcelo on the pitch and the doctors with him ... Players who leave the bench and forget to take off their gloves. Or to leave the mask. The delegate who appears, the fourth referee who comes to control the traffic ... Rush hour of personnel, bustle of entrances and exits. «There are five, then five. And if they were seven, then seven ». This is how Zinedine Zidane , always practical man, summarizes his position with the increase in substitutions. He loves them.

In fact, already on the first day of the strange new league normality, he squeezed the norm, although so much shaking ended up unbalancing the team a little. The afternoon was going very well, after the first part win, but the departure of Ramos and Carvajal , both to the bank as a precaution, made the defense tremble for a few minutes, when the gunsmith box managed to close the distance and knock on the door of the party dispute. Luckily for the Whites, Bale's fresh legs on one side and Vinicius's on the other (along with the watering pause) later quenched the rival reaction.

There would still be room for Valverde to appear on the scene , in the last minutes, with a full tank of gasoline. And the youth squad Javi Hernández even warmed up for a long time, whom Marcelo was setting the pace from the field. Now he accelerates, now he relaxes, depending on how he was feeling from his blow. In the end, the Brazilian was able to resist the entire match.

Since the coaches' union began to talk about possible adjustments to the regulations for this final league sprint, Zidane was in favor of increasing the changes, a proposal led by José Bordalás , from Getafe. The fluidity of basketball or handball, when it comes to modifying systems with different players, has been envied by many soccer coaches for years. This carousel will now also help to give air to athletes who are highly demanded by the tight schedule and the rigors of summer.

Zidane, in the debut, made the most of the variant. Already at the break, he withdrew Carvajal , giving Mendy entry in the right lane, despite the fact that the French winger is left-handed. Later it would be Militao the one that would occupy the vacancy of Ramos in the center of the rear. Different solutions for different times, after the initial plan worked well, where he highlighted a name, Rodrygo Goes . The Marseille coach bet on the young man looking for his mobility, as disciplined when it comes to covering as tireless raising the band. Oxygen for Hazard and Benzema to take care of creating upstairs.

The presence of the Brazilian recalled ZZ's historical taste for rotations, a philosophy that he has always defended as an obligatory path to titles. Now, the five changes and the possibility of having the entire squad on the bench benefit his stance. Hence, unlike Barcelona coach Quique Setien , he has been a public defender of the novelty.

The Barça coach, for his part, believes that the rival on duty can take advantage of the sequence of changes to put in renewed energy and waste time in the last minutes. That one of the ideologues of the reform is Bordalás, with whom he has had friction for years, does not help either that he receives it with smiles.

"This is a completely different thing from what we experienced before," summarized Zidane at the end of the clash against Eibar. James, Brahim or Asensio were pieces that he did not use on Sunday, but which he has for the following matches. He believes that deep within his squad is his best argument for fighting the title. He does not forget that in his best season, 2016/17, with the League and Champions League double conquered, rotations were his flag. Then, in days where the title was played, he came to almost turn eleven.

«It was necessary to change. The five changes had to be made and I don't think that was the only thing that changed the game, ”the Frenchman now insists convinced. Two altitude tests await him this week: Valencia on Thursday at Di Stéfano and Real Sociedad on Sunday at Anoeta.

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Know more

  • Zinedine Zidane
  • Marcelo
  • Alfredo Di Stéfano
  • Dani Carvajal
  • Quique Setién
  • Real society
  • Rodrygo Goes
  • Gareth Bale
  • Ferland Mendy
  • Eden Hazard
  • sports

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