Analysis
Asensio, Bale, Lunin and Rodrygo join Modric and Marcelo as infected white squad players, as well as Davide, assistant coach and son of the Italian coach
The coronavirus hits Real Madrid hard again. The white club has communicated four more positives for covid in its squad this Thursday: Asensio, Bale, Lunin and Rodrygo. The news comes a day after the Chamartín club reported the infections of Modric and Marcelo, so there are already six white footballers who will not be at the disposal of Ancelotti, who also loses Davide, son of the coach and second coach , for the last two games of the year, against Cádiz at the Bernabéu next Sunday and against Athletic in San Mamés on Wednesday 22.
The casualties disrupt the Italian coach’s plan regarding the management of his team. Aware that the changes in the line-ups end up coming as a result of injuries, illness, as in this case, or sanctions, until now it had left in the hands of these external factors the increasingly famous rotations in seasons of maximum demand for squads of more than twenty top-level footballers.
The positives of Modric, one of his untouchables, and Asensio, who has been gaining strength in recent weeks until ending up as a starter, force Reggiolo’s coach to dispense with a pillar in his midfield and the usual option on the right side. of the attack, at least in the next two commitments.
Therefore, the moment of rotations arrives, even if it is by force. So far, beyond the week-long match against Mallorca in Chamartín (6-1), Modric has only fallen from the starting eleven due to adductor discomfort, muscle problems and a bad cold that separated him from the duel against Rayo Vallecano in the Bernabéu.
The campaign is very long, hence that of taking advantage of when the best are in top form. That’s what Ancelotti thinks, who has squeezed his trusted men to reach a valuable mattress in the League, a competition in which in his current situation he can allow himself to lift his foot off the accelerator and even the occasional stumble without his leadership being endangered by the moment.
More complex becomes the situation on the right side of the attack, the most disputed position in this recognizable Real Madrid of Ancelotti. It so happens that the two footballers who have divided the minutes in the position throughout the season -799 minutes of the Balearic for 798 of the Brazilian-, fall at the same time because of the covid. This situation will force Ancelotti to resort to the wild card Lucas Vázquez or to place in that position a footballer more used to the left profile and out of shape like Hazard.
Another option is to transform the 4-3-3 that fully convinces the coach as the ideal drawing for his team for a 4-4-2, at least circumstantially. Fede Valverde would fit into that alternative, who along with Camavinga would enter a medullary without Modric but still with two untouchables like Kroos and Casemiro.
The case of Kroos, Modric’s priority partner in the core, is very different from that of the Croatian. The German missed the first eight games of the season due to a sore throat and did not debut until the end of September. His physical preparation for this season was therefore different and so is the point of form that he is currently going through.
Fixed holders
Of Madrid’s starting midfielders, only Casemiro has barely found rest to date. The Brazilian has played practically everything except for that rotation match against Mallorca, although he has been threatening a penalty game for two days, as he has accumulated four yellow cards in the league. His case is special because it is the only specific profile not bent in the Madrid squad, lacking another pure defensive pivot.
Under the sticks Courtois has played all the minutes in official competition and in defense the starting centrals are crystal clear: David Alaba and Eder Militao have only missed one game each this season. Meanwhile, on the sides, the situation of Kroos is repeated, as Carvajal and Mendy entered the group dynamics later due to their respective physical problems at the beginning, but since then they have been almost immovable, beyond the entry of Lucas Vázquez in the right lane in front of Athletic.
The bet for a fixed eleven is also maintained in the offensive plot, where Vinicius is a fixed in the ownership since the third league date. The other white offensive support, Benzema, has also been untouchable being 100% except in a match in Elche from which Ancelotti released him. Beyond that chosen rotation, the rest for the French has come for reasons of force majeure, because after the knee sprain he suffered in San Sebastián, he lost the Champions League duel against Inter and played only the first part of the Madrid derby in the Bernabéu.
.