Real Madrid said goodbye to 2024 with a convincing victory against Sevilla on the day Jesús Navas hung up his boots (although he only played the final half hour), and already with Vinícius on vacation. The victory, in one of the best games of the season, means that the whites reach the Christmas break two points above Barcelona (with one more game) and second in the table, one point behind Atlético.
Madrid played well, very well at times and at other times dedicated to control football. The wear and tear of the trip to Doha was not too noticeable and Ancelotti debuted a change in defense that he had already tried in other seasons. Despite having Ferland Mendy recovered, he gave the position to Camavinga, which freed up a place in the center of the field for Ceballos, Bellingham’s squire, one who is good for everything although this time he played more as an organizer than as a reacher and was left unmarked.
The first part
Match resolved in half an hour
García Pimienta’s Sevilla wanted to play against Madrid with high pressure but the game immediately became very difficult for them. Ancelotti’s team destroyed him in half an hour with a luck that they do not practice too much, long shots, something in which only Valverde is a specialist. The goals fell to Sevilla like a hammer, every ten minutes.
Mbappé once again approached the player who dazzled at PSG. Ancelotti said the day before that his adaptation period is over. Perhaps it is excessive to say so much but it is true that the Frenchman seems looser, with much more spark.
Mbappe
He scored his tenth goal in the League and the fourteenth of the season
A novelty was seeing Rodrygo all the time on the left as he took advantage of Vinícius’ absence and his mobility was often uncontrollable for Sevilla. The first goal came precisely from a pass from Rodrygo to Mbappé, who did not think about it and beat Álvaro with a shot. The Frenchman had the double in his boots very soon after, but he missed an easier one at goal than the one he had scored shortly before. He still doesn’t get a good percentage of his chances but his numbers aren’t bad. With yesterday’s goal he already has fourteen goals, ten in the League.
If it is not easy to see Mbappé shoot from afar, it is easy to see Valverde. The Uruguayan, who had already scored in Vallecas, took a shot from his side to score the second. Sevilla was floundering and in full disarray they were unable to stop a triangulation between Brahim and Lucas Vázquez that ended in a perfect pass for Rodrygo, who scored 3-0.
In the next play, Madrid was asleep. While celebrating what seemed like the sentence, Sevilla took the center, Juanlu ran his wing and put a cross into the pot that Isaac Ramos headed in under the impassive gaze of Tchouaméni in the only defensive inattention of the whites in the first half.
The second part
Brahim scored the winning goal
The goal encouraged Madrid, which was very close to the fourth before the break, especially in a one-on-one shot by Lucas Vázquez who, instead of passing it, crashed it into the goalkeeper.
Madrid started the second poorly, with a couple of errors in their defense that forced Courtois to act as savior with a point-blank save from Isaac’s shot. Things didn’t get any worse because in the 52nd minute Madrid once again showed off their punch in a combination between Mbappé first with Lucas Vázquez and then with Brahim that the Malaga native finished for 4-1.
This time everything was already resolved. Navas entered in ’63 with the Bernabéu already celebrating, savoring the defeat of Barcelona and going to eat the nougat in peace when with the 0-4 on October 26 in the classic the dark clouds could not be more threatening.
Rodrygo and Mbappé missed easy goals and Sevilla closed the gap at the end with a shot from Lukabakio. Madrid will have a quiet Christmas.
#White #party #Christmas
