This League is not won by car.
None.
It is the lesson that Madrid, saved by two goals from
Benzema
, the second the patience of the sculptor under the pressure of time, obtains after a match that reproduced the worst memories of Valdebebas: Cádiz, Alavés ... Elche succumbed when he believed be one of them.
Madrid left by car to play a game that he understood as a stop on the road, before the return of the Champions League.
Zidane's
team is not there
for days of the tortilla, because he does not have enough goal to solve games that he plays while thinking about others.
The work of art with which Benzema kept the banner upright does not scare away problems or exempt from errors.
A single shot between sticks, by the autumnal Isco, against one of the weakest teams in the tournament in the entire first half says it all the very little offensive power of Madrid.
That the goals do not arrive if the occasions occur is a lesser evil.
That the second ones do not appear, which happened during most of the crash, is a serious problem.
Thinking about Atalanta, as Zidane did to leave
Modric
and
Kroos
on the bench
, mainly, did not work.
They ended up arriving by ambulance.
The decision is the result of a calculation of possibilities.
The quarterfinals of the Champions are within reach, with a goal advantage over the Italian team awaiting the return, on Tuesday in Valdebebas.
The League is raw, despite being a season full of imponderables.
Now much more.
Strange in ZZ, which has always prioritized the domestic tournament but will go down in history for its three consecutive Champions League.
'Et voila'.
The Frenchman not only left starters out of the eleven, he also returned to the system with three centrals, one of them back,
Sergio Ramos
.
It is not the first to use it, although on other occasions it was to optimize absences with drawing.
Yesterday was not the case.
Helping Ramos in his reintegration, assisted by
Varane
and
Nacho
, does not seem like an argument either.
The three centrals allowed
Mendy
and
Lucas Vázquez to
advance, but when they did, the traffic jam came.
Neither
Isco
nor
Vaverde
offered clarity and hierarchy to the game in a zone with Casemiro as the only survivor of Madrid's strongest line.
The Brazilian will not be able to play against Atalanta, suspended.
Madrid reached, then, the three quarters with ease, since Elche folded its lines from the 4-4-2 with which
Fran Escribá
usually plays
, a coach with more level than what his poster says.
He did not need too much effort against a blunt Madrid, which the most dangerous in the entire first half found him on the counter, with spaces, from an error by Elche in a set piece action.
Valverde
threw on
Vinicius
, who beat a depleted Barragán, after a muscle pull in the area, and crossed for Benzema.
The Frenchman hit out with the inside.
Nothing more.
Actually, the danger in that section had been greater in the local area, when
Courtois
cleared
with his nail a ball that fell for
Raúl Guti
and Boyé did not fine-tune a control, alone, in front of the goal.
The better intentions with which Madrid returned to the pitch did not change the trend, since it was
Boyé
who again tested Courtois and central
Dani Calvo
who entered for grapes in a very passive Madrid area to bite the crossbar and win the net.
The changes, then yes, came as if they were in an ambulance to return Madrid to its appearance, with the entry of Modric and Kroos, basically, more
Rodrygo
.
Hazard
would do it later
, on his umpteenth return.
Isco and Valverde left the field without a single reason to improve their position.
The man from Malaga has lost it;
the Uruguayan has not recovered it.
The third to leave was Sergio Ramos, whose return after undergoing surgery has deadlines, and the first was to start for an hour.
The center-back could be subject to a penalty, shortly before the same thing happened to Courtois in the Madrid area.
Vázquez Figueroa
did not indicate any;
the VAR, either.
The tool does not close discussions.
Unlike.
Filming, competition and pedagogy are lacking.
Some of the many things that Madrid lacked were put by Modric, of course.
The Croatian's precision allowed Benzema to finish like what he is not: a killer.
Until then, only
Casemiro was
pushing in the area
.
The Frenchman does not push, he dances, and that is what he did again when he received from Rodrygo, to avoid an early dismissal from the League, while the reality of the team even invokes the return of
Cristiano
as if it were a wet dream.
The past does not win the future.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
Real Madrid
Elche CF
Karim Benzema
Zinedine Zidane
LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021Zidane, Benzema's return and the long wait for Hazard: "We are not going to risk"
LaLigaPolémica in the derby: Madrid protested Felipe's hand that Hernández Hernández did not indicate after consulting the VAR
LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021The change in Zidane's scheme and the Brazilian revolution: "I was not comfortable with what I saw"
See links of interest
2021 business calendar
TD Systems Baskonia - FC Bayern Munich
FC Cartagena - Ponferradina
FC Augsburg - Borussia Mönchengladbach
Atalanta - Spezia
Real Madrid - Elche