Neither David, nor stone nor sling. Real Madrid qualified for the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey without suffering a single scratch from Deportiva Minera, a team that was already losing 0-3 after half an hour. Despite the defeat, the local hero was goalkeeper Fran Martínez, who was able to ask for an increase for overtime. After the comeback in Mestalla, the process in Cartagena hardly kept him from sleeping and he is already thinking about revalidating the Super Cup title in Yida.
Despite the fact that the white team rotated, the wardrobe proved to be much superior, completely inaccessible to Second RFEF players. Ancelotti showed off his youth squad but only in defense, where Lorenzo and Diego Aguado debuted, in addition to Asencio, who has already made ten appearances this season. And if Mbappé and Vinícius came on in the second half it was not out of necessity but to have a gesture of generosity with the spectators who had paid for the ticket, who applauded the stars as if they were in the parade of the Three Wise Men.
It was enough for the Italian coach with three starters from the Intercontinental final: Fran García, Camavinga and Fede Valverde. The three of them were more than enough. And the Uruguayan, the only one who was repeating from those who started at Mestalla, impregnated the rest with his enthusiasm, giving a lesson in professionalism and respect for the rival. Valverde led by example, becoming the lung but also the heart of the white team. He even opened the scoring, taking advantage of a bad rebound from captain Britos and hitting a powerful volley from close range (5).
The “Yes we can” from the stands was a toast to the sun because they immediately understood, on the field and in the public, that standing up to the current European and League champion was going to be a pipe dream. The dream almost became getting the idol’s shirt.
As in the previous tie against Alavés, the modest Murcian club parked the Ángel Celdrán municipal stadium, in its town, El Llano del Beal, to play at Cartagonova, in Cartagena, to take advantage of the pull of Real Madrid and make money with the 15,000 locations. This saved the whites the problem of having to adapt to a small pitch and dimensions.
With more space, Madrid’s forwards (Brahim, Güler and Endrick) moved and wriggled as they pleased but they found themselves more than once, twice, three and four times with the stops of Fran Martínez. But sometimes they demanded so much of him that he couldn’t cope. Thus he gave way to Camavinga, by siege (13).
Almost the only and best chance for Deportiva Minera was a shot from more than 40 meters by Omar, which caught Lunin ahead. He narrowly missed out. Güler did have the luck he lacked in his individual play because the shot, after touching a defender, became 0-3 (29).
Nine months after turning 40, Modric has scored two games in a row since he scored the fourth (55). Instead, Endrick crashed in his desire to break his drought, which has lasted since September 17, and it was Güler who closed the scoring.
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