While solving all its structural problems, Real Madrid continues to move forward. With a bit of Rodrygo, a header from Rüdiger, a long shot from Endrick and the old inspiration of Thibaut Courtois. Ancelotti’s team continues to be disjointed, without conceding the attack, without adjusting the defence. And despite everything, it continues to move forward, weak but lethal. It resisted the pushes of Stuttgart, a daring team, with the gears well adjusted, but which succumbed in the champion’s debut in the Champions League.
3
Thibaut Courtois, Dani Carvajal, Antonio Rüdiger, Lucas Vázquez (Éder Militão, min. 45), Ferland Mendy (Fran García, min. 75), Aurélien Tchouaméni (Luka Modric, min. 69), Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham (Endrick, min. 79), Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo (Arda Güler, min. 74)
1
Alexander Nübel, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Jeff Chabot, Josha Vagnoman (Anrie Chase, min. 62), Anthony Rouault (Dan-Axel Zagadou, min. 88), Atakan Karazor, Angelo Stiller, Chris Führich (Fabian Rieder, min. 62), Enzo Millot (Ermedin Demirovic, min. 74), Jamie Leweling and Deniz Undav (El Bilal Touré, min. 75)
Goals
1-0 min. 45: Kylian Mbappe. 1-1 min. 67: Deniz Undav. 2-1 min. 82: Rüdiger. 3-1 min. 94: Endrick
Referee Halil Umut Meler
Yellow cards
Lucas Vázquez (min. 22), Mittelstädt (min. 29), Federico Valverde (min. 77), Eder Militao (min. 79), Modric (min. 94)
This time, the European Cup did not transform Madrid, which remained more or less as disjointed and languid as in the League. The push came from Stuttgart, which was presenting itself in the tournament for the first time after 15 years, little more than a year after being at the bottom of the Bundesliga. The team of Sebastian Hoeness, son of Dieter, nephew of Uli, was on fire like a refined version of that Bayern of the seventies and eighties of the young German coach’s relatives. Not even a quarter of an hour had passed and Courtois had already accumulated three saves; the last one, one of those miracle saves that the Belgian usually makes just before Madrid wakes up.
Stuttgart burst through the middle with two walls and Stiller found himself alone in front of the goalkeeper, who stretched his arms and legs out to the sides and cleared the shot with the tips of the fingers of his right glove. But Madrid did not wake up. Everything was difficult for them, from the exit to the threat at the other goal. Lucas Vázquez, at right back and with Carvajal as a centre-back with Rüdiger, looked like a youngster trying to start the game from his wing, partly also because of the pressure from the Germans. They function like a pack that has coordinated all its movements to hunt. And they hunted.
Later on, the gears didn’t work either. The ball quickly returned to Stuttgart. There was no leader to tame the pressure of the Germans and allow Madrid to rest, organize itself and unbalance the rival. There was no backbone to support the skeleton. Bellingham appeared at times, connecting the pieces, but without continuity. Madrid did not have the thread of the game and Stuttgart needed very little to get back on track, around Stiller, Leweling and Karazor. Without hesitation, always moving forward, despite being the newcomer visiting the home of the giant champion, the king of Europe.
Vinicius was unable to complete an imprecise assault, a point that was still eager. Mbappé’s feet were tangled like a novice dancer. He wasted several opportunities in which he had a clear advantage, such as a steal that they managed to get in Nübel’s area and it ended in nothing, just general perplexity. The attacking opportunities slipped away and the team then had a hard time recovering. The attack was not well-adjusted, and neither was the defensive structure of the pressure. They tried to press high, but a gap always appeared and that’s where Stuttgart escaped.
Then Rodrygo appeared, on that right wing that has started the season orphaned, diminished by the traffic of Mbappé, Vinicius and Bellingham on the other side. The 11 took advantage of the depopulation and provided some relief to the team, which was dulled in the other areas.
One of those breaks, just after the break, gave Madrid a lead that Stuttgart had been much closer to. Tchouameni played a good pass into space, the Brazilian continued to accelerate towards the area and laid the ball off to Mbappé to push in. The goal was like a flare: a bright but ephemeral flare. With Stuttgart fresh from being beaten, Madrid seemed to be transformed. Mbappé found himself alone against the goalkeeper again, and passed the ball to him. Vinicius completed an endless run, managed to get the ball back, and Valverde and Rodrygo were already bogged down inside the area.
The Germans’ disorientation was as ephemeral as the flash of goal, the fifth in seven games. They got back to work and stepped into Courtois’ area, who continued to make saves. His defensive structure, the fluidity learned from his attacks, the clairvoyance in finding solutions, seemed to be everything that Madrid was looking for, but they were suffering like a downpour. That’s how inevitable the equaliser seemed, after a corner cleared by Rüdiger to the far post, from where Leweling put it in the head of Undav, who found the net. They didn’t stop there. They kept looking. But it was Madrid who found the chance, with Modric and Güler already on the field. The Croatian took a corner and Rüdiger gave the relief that seemed definitive, and Endrick finished it off in a counterattack that he resolved with a long shot. Madrid doesn’t flow, but it advances.
#Madrid #punch