Matchday 19
Real Madrid visit, deprived of its most destabilizing figure but with Courtois available, to a rising Getafe
Getafe and Real Madrid will open the football year in Primera with a derby in which the leader will test how life is going without Vinicius. The Brazilian, undoubtedly the fashionable footballer in Europe and one of the main reasons why Carlo Ancelotti’s team was proclaimed winter champion, is still positive for coronavirus, which will prevent him from jumping to the Alfonso Pérez Coliseum to play a match in which the Whites aspire to extend their extraordinary streak of fifteen consecutive games without knowing the defeat among all the competitions, which has allowed them to add 29 of the last 33 points in contention in the domestic championship and provide themselves with a soft mattress on their immediate pursuers. For this, he will have to overcome the azulón team, in an upward trend since the arrival of Quique Flores and who has managed to haggle with relative fortune the claws of a pandemic that is ravaging the League.
Covid-19 will deprive Ancelotti of Vinicius for the first time this season. The carioca had played the 25 matches that Real Madrid accumulates between the League and the Champions League, being a starter in 23 of them. His definitive emergence has led him to be the second most used field footballer by the transalpine coach with 2,048 minutes in his legs, surpassed only by Militao. He started as a substitute in the first two days against Alavés and Levante, but his outstanding performance in both appointments, in which he scored three goals from the bench, they loaded him with gallons and he did not get off the starting eleven again.
Only the coronavirus has been able to stop an irrepressible footballer but who, in the last two days, had begun to show signs of some exhaustion. With less spark than usual, Vinicius failed to be against Cádiz and Athletic that effervescent player who destroys defenses with the speed of lightning. Despite this, his records speak of a decisive figure in the Real Madrid league acceleration, with ten goals and five assists since the tournament raised the curtain to catapult a squad that flies against and has in the unexpected alliance woven by the former from Flamengo with Benzema his main flag.
Ancelotti therefore regrets the absence of a winger who was going through his best moment since he arrived in Spain. But Reggiolo’s coach also has reason to be relieved. Because Courtois is available, after LaLiga granted the relevant authorization once the successive PCR performed on the Belgian in recent days confirmed that he has left the disease behind. The goalkeeper is another of the pillars of a leader who has only conceded a goal in the last five days and boasts of being the second team with the least number of goals in the First Division. Although he missed a couple of training sessions after returning from vacation, he will be under sticks, delaying the debut of Lunin this season to the cup match against Alcoyano next week.
Hazard, in his comfort zone
In the same situation as Courtois are Valverde and Camavinga, who have also overcome the coronavirus. The Frenchman will not be able to play due to the accumulation of yellows, but the Uruguayan is a luxury reinforcement for a midfield to which Modric, who missed the last two games due to covid, and Casemiro, absent against Athletic due to suspension, return. With Carvajal and Bale in the dry dock due to physical problems, in addition to Jovic, isolated after testing positive, the great news in Ancelotti’s eleven will be the presence of Hazard on the left wing. The ex of Chelsea ate the nougat with good feelings after offering green shoots in his last two appearances and the visit to the Coliseum gives him a new opportunity to vindicate himself in his ideal demarcation.
A Getafe that has not beaten Real Madrid since the 2012-13 academic year (2-1 at the Coliseum) will try to prevent it and that has only been able to reap two draws in the fifteen duels fought since then with the whites, although these have been given in two of the last three visits by Chamartín’s team to his stadium.
The three victories and five draws registered in the ten league games played since Quique Flores landed on the blue bench have allowed him to leave the relegation places, when they had barely obtained a point in the first eight days with Míchel. Crucial for this has been his good performance at home, which this Sunday will be put to the test by the best visitor of the championship. “We only have the belief of winning,” said the Getafe coach despite all the effort.
Probable lineups
-
Getafe:
Soria, Damián, Cabaco, Mitrovic, Cuenca, Olivera, Maksimovic, Aleñá, Arambarri, Sandro and Ünal. -
Real Madrid:
Courtois, Lucas Vázquez, Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Rodrygo, Benzema and Hazard. -
Referee:
Melero López (Andalusian Committee). -
Hour:
14:00 h. -
Stadium:
Coliseum Alfonso Pérez. -
TV:
Movistar LaLiga.
.