Madrid’s Eden in the Champions League gives way once again to the League and its most prosaic issues in the white house, with a championship decided in favor of Barça, the pressure of the enrachado Atlético in the fight for second place and a calendar of the most tight that forced the diplomat Carlo Ancelotti to show his teeth yesterday.
The Italian coach took advantage of his appearance prior to the duel against Celta at the Bernabéu to leave a message to the institutions that regulate football and come out in defense of his players. «The calendar many times, the truth, does not make sense. Too tight, with too many games, and you have to evaluate the health of the players a bit. Here everyone thinks about their own, LaLiga about theirs, the Federation about theirs, UEFA or FIFA… The players don’t paint anything. Something has to be changed, ”the Madrid coach forcefully pointed out before a league marathon of four games in just a week and a half.
The whites will host Celta in Chamartín today, they will travel to Girona on Tuesday 25, they will play Almería on Saturday 29 at the Bernabéu and finally they will visit Real Sociedad at the Reale Arena on Tuesday 2 May, four days before the final of the Copa del Rey against Osasuna, which is one of the two priority battlefronts in Madrid along with the Champions League semifinal tie against Manchester City by Guardiola and Haaland.
Aware of the need to dose efforts but also of the suitability of his heavyweights rolling in the apparently inconsequential league games, Ancelotti puffed up his chest for his management of the squad. “Right now the rotation depends only on giving rest to the players that I see as the most tired. I have to give minutes to have the players physically fit in the final stretch of the season, “acknowledged the transalpine, who will predictably repeat against Celta the formula that he already applied on the last day in Cádiz, with a mix of regulars and substitutes. The result was convincing, both in the game and in the solid victory at the Nuevo Mirandilla, and that is Madrid’s path to runner-up, a minor goal, but especially with the idea of continuing to gain sensations in the decisive stretch of the season .
As in the Tacita de Plata, it will be the turn of the title for luxury substitutes such as Asensio, Ceballos, Tchouaméni, Rüdiger, Nacho or Lucas Vázquez. Thus, key men like Benzema, Modric, Kroos, Camavinga or Carvajal will rest, with the only casualties due to injury Mendy and Alaba. The French left-back and the Austrian center-back have a very difficult time reaching the Cup final and they would be in very fair shape for the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at the Bernabéu against City, on Tuesday May 9, just 72 hours later of the decisive duel in the KO tournament.
A debate stopped
And it is that there is no truce in a final stretch of the campaign that will draw the fine line between success and failure, possibly conditioning the continuity of Ancelotti, another controversial issue that Reggiolo’s has managed to tackle for the moment, taking his continuity. «The club shows me a lot of affection and I think we will be here next season. We are going to respect the contract,” said the transalpine player before the duel against Cádiz, and the truth is that his tactic paid off because the appearance on the eve of the duel against Celta was the first in a long time that was not marked by questions about its continuity.
For their part, Celta arrives at the Bernabéu somewhat stagnant after their great reaction with the arrival of the Portuguese Carlos Carvalhal to the Balaídos bench. Seven points behind the European places and nine above relegation, the team from Vigo navigates the calmest waters of the League, without great aspirations but neither fears. An authentic pool of oil that is a double-edged sword when visiting the Bernabéu, where they have added a draw in their last ten visits and where the staging of the desired Gabri Veiga is eagerly awaited.
-Probable alignments:
Real Madrid: Courtois, Lucas Vázquez, Militao, Rüdiger, Nacho, Valverde, Tchouaméni, Ceballos, Asensio, Rodrygo and Vinicius.
Celtic: Iván Villar, Kevin, Aidoo, Unai Núñez, Galán, Beltrán, Carles Pérez, Gabri Veiga, De la Torre, Iago Aspas and Seferovic.
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Valencian Committee).
Time: 9:00 p.m. Santiago Bernabeu.
Television: Dazn.
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