Group F | Matchday 4
A victory in Warsaw against Shakhtar would validate the pass to the first knockout round of the Champions League for the defending champion, who rotates with Barça in mind
Real Madrid visits Warsaw with one eye on Sunday’s classic. The Polish Army Stadium, a refuge for Shakhtar in the European exile of the Donbas team caused by the war in Ukraine, is the customs office where the fourteen-time monarch of the continent hopes to pass control for the round of 16 of the competition that is the backbone of his history. A victory in the traditional domains of Legia would certify the whites’ mathematical classification for a round that they have not missed since the old European Cup changed its format. It could even assure them of first place should that victory coincide with a possible stumble for Leipzig against Celtic on Scottish soil, thanks to the full points that Carlo Ancelotti’s block has garnered to date.
The determination that the defending champion has put into resolving his duties in the Champions League as soon as possible allows Chamartín’s team to face the visit to Shakhtar without emergencies in a week in which the main focus of attention is on the stake that will take place five days later with Barça at the Santiago Bernabéu. While the azulgranas will risk their lives on Wednesday with Inter and, therefore, will be forced to put all their meat on the grill, the whites can afford to manage the efforts of their most important players and distribute minutes to who have had fewer opportunities in the first two months of the course. They are the benefits derived from having bent the elbows when it was time to examine subjects, it must be said, which did not contain a maximum difficulty either.
This is how Ancelotti came to recognize him last Wednesday, after his students passed another revalidation at the Bernabéu in which he lacked a better aiming exercise to earn the qualification of outstanding ‘cum laude’. “It is important to leave the group stage behind, because it is normal that it takes away your energy,” said the Reggiolo coach, aware that that victory against Shakhtar practically sealed a ticket that his team hopes to definitively stamp in the Polish capital .
This duel against the Ukrainian squad was followed by the victory by the minimum against Getafe of a Real Madrid that played with one less gear, product of the curves that are coming for Barça and for the World Cup that is just around the corner. Ancelotti is very aware of them and, therefore, had no qualms about admitting at the end of the meeting at the Coliseum that he will take advantage of the Champions League parador to save gasoline. “On Tuesday it may be that it rotates a little more and that the soccer players who are more tired do not play,” said the transalpine.
Chance for Hazard
This scenario allows soccer players like Lucas Vázquez or Nacho to leave the garage. Ancelotti also lifts the clutch with Hazard, whom he parked a month ago. Mendy and Kroos, always ready for the big circuits, return to the eleven after resting against Getafe. On the contrary, Vinicius, a racing car without a brake, will slow down on the bench because Real Madrid will need him to keep the sixth gear engaged throughout the entire journey against Barça. Benzema, for his part, needs to load the trust deposit, after not seeing a door since August 28. He stopped for the weekend and will be the main intimidating element for a Shakhtar fully immersed in the hell that his motherland is going through.
Igor Jovicevic’s team lives with a Dantesque situation. Vladimir Putin’s savage response to the sabotage last weekend of the strategic bridge that connects Crimea with the Taman peninsula intensified the horror that overwhelms the minds of the mining workforce, whose relatives rise up under the constant threat of bombs.
“It is a cruel situation. It’s not just football, we talk about life. We want to sleep peacefully, but we talk about life, we need help to end this war, the bombings”, implored the Croatian coach, who in the 1990s escaped to Madrid from the Balkans bathed in blood and who is now once again experiencing the nonsense of the weapons in Ukraine. “When the match starts, no one is going to remember what we are experiencing, everyone will want to see us win, but this is football,” said the former merengue youth squad. “We have to be strong. Show the world that we are young but determined”, added the one from Zagreb, who will once again trust a good part of his team’s options in Trubin’s gloves and Mudryk’s edge.
Likely lineups
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Shakhtar Donetsk:
Trubin, Mykhaylichenko, Bondar, Matviyenko, Konoplia, Stepanenko, Shved, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Mudryk, and Zubkov. -
Real Madrid:
Lunin, Lucas Vázquez, Nacho, Rüdiger, Mendy, Tchouaméni, Valverde, Kroos, Rodrygo, Benzema and Hazard. -
Referee:
Orel Grinfeld (Israel). -
Hour:
9:00 p.m. -
Stadium:
Polish Army Stadium. -
TV:
Movistar Champions League.
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