Abraham P. Romero

Updated Saturday, January 27, 2024-18:28

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Real Madrid woke up on time from its nap in Gran Canaria, a tourist destination par excellence, to return to Las Palmas and once again be the leader of the League while waiting for what Girona does this Sunday in Vigo. The whites, with goals from Vinicius and Tchouaméni, turned around Javi Muñoz's initial goal and will sleep in first position in the championship today.

Madrid had six days to rest between the duel against Almería and the visit to Las Palmas, six days insufficient for some of Carlo Ancelotti's men to recover from the fatigue accumulated between the trip to Saudi Arabia, the cup derby and the League. For this reason, and also taking advantage of Bellingham's absence due to suspension, the Italian opted for one of the most innovative lineups of the season. In addition to the Englishman, Mendy, Tchouaméni, Modric and Valverde left the eleven, all four by technical decision. Fran García, Camavinga, Ceballos and Brahim entered. The drawing did not change, but the functions did.

Faced with a UD Las Palmas capable of assuming possession and little by little caging their rival in the area, Ancelotti centered Vinicius even more, placed Brahim in the shadow of Perrone, the 'yellow' anchor, and brought a lot of play together in the middle. Kroos, Ceballos and Camavinga to avoid the transitions that have placed the Canaries in seventh place.

In attack, Camavinga acted as the axis, Ceballos on the right, Kroos on the left and Brahim at the point of the diamond. The whites dominated most of the first half, doing good defensive work, but without being too successful in the final meters.

In the 4th, a good touch from Ceballos left Rodrygo alone against Valles, saving the situation for Zamora in the League. Warning for the Brazilian, who received a yellow card for slapping the goalkeeper. Ten minutes later, Rüdiger almost hooked a header a meter from the rival line, but his shot went wide.

Few chances and a lot of tactical play between two well-constructed teams. García Pimienta's men did not tremble when it came to playing, waiting for a failure in the rival pressure and keeping an eye on the left zone of the Madrid defense, where Vinicius was unable to help Fran García much. In those starts from Marvin came the best spaces for the Canaries, although without clear shots against Lunin.

In the 31st minute, the locals asked for a penalty for a possible knockdown by Ceballos on Cardona, but neither Soto Grado nor the VAR considered the action as a maximum penalty. The rage gave Las Palmas some wings against a Madrid that was too contemplative, but the first half died with the only opportunities for Vinicius, the most active in the Madrid attack, as always. The Brazilian missed the mark on Valles and tried his luck from afar just before half-time. Madrid did not produce more, in the middle of the Canary Islands siesta.

After the intermission, the whites came out asleep and paid for it. Munir, beating Nacho, was about to surprise Lunin in the first play of the second act, but the Ukrainian quickly reached the base of his left post.

Las Palmas believed it. Five minutes later, he had a prize. Sandro started a counterattack after a short cross from Fran García and took advantage of the full-back's absence on the left. He won a duel with Nacho, ran for Kirian to find him long, dribbled past Rüdiger and made a perfect pass of death so that Javi Muñoz, a former Madrid youth player, defined the 1-0 against Lunin while Kroos and Nacho stayed looking at the brand.

With the score against, Ancelotti moved pieces. He sat Brahim and Ceballos, badly in an important opportunity, and opted for Valverde and Joselu, changing the scheme to a 4-3-3 that settled his team better on the field. With the changes, Camavinga grew even more, key in defense in the first half and excellent in attack, sharing creation with Kroos and generating for Vinicius.

In the 63rd minute, the German found the Brazilian with a long pass into the area but Vinicius scored terribly, attempting a shot that went very, very high. He redeemed himself, of course, two minutes later, when he controlled a subtle touch from Camavinga with his chest and finished with his left foot, crossed, against Valles to tie the duel.

The goal hurt a Canarian team that throughout the season has been suffering in the second half, something that is even more noticeable given the physical superiority of Madrid, which introduced Tchouaméni and Arda Güler for the last ten minutes and already saw how Vinicius managed to do damage on the left.

In the 83rd minute, with a diagonal

zigzag

, the Brazilian stood in the area and was about to make it 1-2, but the defense deflected his shot for a corner. In the corner kick, Kroos put a perfect ball to Tchouaméni that the Frenchman headed, unmarked, into Valles' net.

Las Palmas tried in the eight minutes of extra time, but Madrid held on and took three key points for the capital in one of the most complicated exits left this season.