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Benzema Worrying injury on Modric's centenary
No team survives in the European Cup like Real Madrid.
It doesn't matter the time of year, the rival or the city.
It is a relationship that is born of agony and that finds epic moments like those experienced at the Santiago Bernabéu last season.
Far from letting themselves die like they did against PSG, Chelsea or Manchester, Real Madrid began defending their Champions League as they know best: suffering and living.
Because no one defends its status as a European ogre like the white team.
It invites you to dream, assumes the suffering that you can cause it and ends up killing you without you realizing it.
And Celtic Park, hell of the real ones, of those who create the topic, made him suffer a lot.
“You will never walk alone” (“You will never walk alone”), sang the Celtic field while the footballers jumped onto the pitch.
So it was.
The Scottish champion, pushed by a colossal crowd, overwhelmed Madrid from the start.
Intense in pressure and vertical in the counterattack, he did not let the whites breathe.
Ancelotti's players lived mentally and footballingly caged during the first fifty minutes of the game.
Erratic in ball delivery, imprecise in three quarters of the field and dependent only on Vinicius.
Always Vinicius, who ended up freeing the white team from the demons.
Celtic, a reflection of the globalization of football, had the goal already on the first play, but the Israeli Abada met Courtois.
The Scots, European champions in 1967 with players born in the streets near Celtic Park, shone guided by the feet of the Japanese Hatate, the clairvoyance of the Portuguese Jota and the honor of the Scotsman McGregor, this one from the house.
He sent a shot to the Madrid post in the 20th minute and shook the foundations of Glasgow.
Madrid was not found, as if the defense of the title was not enough incentive to step clearly on the Scottish grass.
Ancelotti opted for the same eleven for the Champions League final against Liverpool, changing the obvious: Tchouaméni instead of Casemiro.
The European Cup will be the competition that really measures the impact of the sale of the Brazilian and the signing of the Frenchman.
Minutes later came the shock of Benzema's injury, Hazard's entry and the logical temporary imbalance in Madrid's attack.
The Belgian positioned himself as a false 9, breaking Ancelotti's theoretical ideal line-up.
Hazard offers Carletto much less than Benzema, obviously, but he brings a virtue to the Frenchman that neither Asensio nor Mariano gives him: association.
From his relegation to creation came Madrid's best chance before the break.
A high pass on Vinicius that the Brazilian defined from below against Joe Hart.
The goalkeeper was right to keep his feet on the ground.
Vinicius was once again the white light that shone the brightest in Glasgow.
He took advantage of the spaces left by Hazard when he went down to look for possession and found the goal in a play similar to the one in the final in Paris against Liverpool.
Fede Valverde, who continues to give width to Ancelotti's right wing, put a millimeter low pass on Vinicius's arrival behind his defender.
More touched than his center shot in the Champions League final, but with the same recipient.
Vinicius sent the ball into the net and tempered Celtic Park, who did not stop cheering but took on the difficulty of their new challenge.
The goal forced the Scots to leave more space in defense and Madrid, physically superior, destroying their rivals in the last minutes of games for many months, did not forgive.
A steal in the center of the field ended with the ball at the feet of Hazard, who started the counterattack and assisted Modric when he reached the edge.
The Croatian, magical, cut the defender and scored with the outside to Hart's right post.
Award for his 100th match for white in the Champions League.
Without knowing how, Celtic Park found themselves two goals down without having felt the weight of Madrid on their shoulders.
And perhaps therein lies the greatness of the Whites, who on their most feared day, that of Benzema's injury, also found the necessary goal from Hazard.
The Belgian, who had not scored since January, finished off a sensational play by the team, which moved the defense, waited for pressure and shot on target when Kroos found a perfect diagonal for Carvajal.
The winger gave Hazard to push for a goal.
Three goals and a clean sheet in Scottish hell.
This is how the champion debuted.
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football
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Articles Abraham Romero