Real Madrid, who started the season resolving games uphill, have begun to find a way to put them downhill. Against Osasuna, he delivered a solid monologue in which he hardly felt threatened, again under the baton of Luka Modric. He scored Bellingham, as always, 10 goals in 10 games, but the Croatian once again left flashes of his magic. Almost everything worked for Madrid, which is leading the national team break.
4
Arrizabalaga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Dani Carvajal (Lucas Vázquez, min. 78), Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy, Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham (Dani Ceballos, min. 72), Modric (Brahim Diaz, min. 78), Camavinga (Kroos, min. . 66), Vinicius Junior (Rodrygo, min. 72) and Joselu
0
Herrera, David García, Juan Cruz, Catena, Jesús Areso, Lucas Torró, Aimar Oroz (Raul García de Haro, min. 79), Jon Moncayola (Pablo Ibáñez, min. 79), Ante Budimir (Chimy Ávila, min. 70) , Rubén Peña (Kike Barja, min. 79) and Rubén García (Arnáiz, min. 70)
Goals 1-0 min. 8: Jude Bellingham. 2-0 min. 54: Jude Bellingham. 3-0 min. 64: Vinicius Junior. 4-0 min. 69: Joselu.
Referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez
Yellow cards Rüdiger (min. 39), Aurelien Tchouameni (min. 59) and Pablo Ibáñez (min. 83)
For the Bernabéu it was a happy afternoon. He lives with the uncertainty of not knowing what his last time with Modric will be. She celebrates him when the lineup is recited and the speaker leaves his name for last. She applauds him when he approaches the barrier to take the first corner. He celebrates if he steals a ball. Everything is interpreted as signs for hope: there may still be another afternoon, another pass, another verse with the outside.
After having him watch three games in a row from the bench, Ancelotti recovered the Croatian and released him on the grass to do almost whatever he wanted. Valverde, Camavinga and Bellingham formed the most stable thing seen in the center of the field, while Modric floated here and there, at his whim, listening to Osasuna’s compact formation. Jagoba Arrasate, who could not sit on the bench due to an expulsion, arranged for his people to wait, and above all to try to prevent Madrid from surprising them on the run.
Modric watched that from a distance. Sometimes between the center backs, who due to the accumulation of absences were Rüdiger and Tchouameni. Ancelotti chose to delay the pivot instead of placing Mendy there, partly because of his skill in the aerial game, a classic Osasuna resource. The Frenchman did not hesitate, nor did he hardly hesitate with the position, and, as always, he was very dominant in the cut, also back there, as a broom car. Modric began the attacks very close to him, often to the right of him, with Carvajal in front, already beyond the center of the field. The Croatian watched from that area for the appearance of a crack, like a predator waiting for the whiskers of a prey to appear.
Madrid monopolized the ball, which they carried from left to right, but the shot came from the Croatian. He found a very narrow tunnel and there he sent the ball into the area to Carvajal, who left it, of course, to Bellingham, who always arrives. He cut back and scored again. The Englishman supported the team when Vinicius was missing, and now that he has returned, he continues with the scoring hammer. This time also with the second, after a wall with Valverde.
Bellingham has shifted Madrid’s gravitational center, which looks less to the Brazilian’s left as a way to cause chaos. The Englishman is spending more time in his area, certain that he will end up finding a reward there, like the goal they scored in Naples. But after the injury, Vinicius is still not as strong as when he dazzled as the most destabilizing footballer in the world. Against Osasuna he recalled something more of his moments of unleashed baroqueism, undoing the path again and again to challenge the same defender again. Although without taking too much advantage from those dance steps yet.
This time the poison was not in the sting of the dribble. She took him out at a gallop, like in his first happy times. With a brief touch from the outside, a pass from Valverde was sent into space, and it took off alone towards Herrera. Face to face with him, an unusual resolution: Ronaldo Nazario dribble, goalkeeper to the ground and goal into an empty net. He also left another strange morsel. He dropped a ball in front, with David García harassing him behind him. The Brazilian held his own against a rocky central defender, saw Joselu arrive and assisted him in the fourth.
The game did not abandon Real’s monologue script. Kepa needed to stretch just for one stop. Osasuna’s other big chance saw Budimir send it over the crossbar.
The afternoon was heading towards a succession of small tributes in the changes, the biggest for Luka Modric. The stands bid him farewell on their feet while he turned around applauding, a gesture that could also function as goodbye the day he finally plays, but for now it is only see you later, until the next performance. The Croatian still has class and ingenuity left for some moments, so appreciated. The Bernabéu squeezed them out, and so did he, who returned to the field after the end for a few more applauses.
In this festive atmosphere of a placid and sentimental afternoon, something anticlimactic happened: Joselu missed a penalty. He shot to the center and Herrera was still there. Madrid has a crater in the eleven meters: Vinicius failed in preseason, Rodrygo failed against Celta already in the League, and now Joselu. They have not yet come up with a maximum penalty after the holidays. But in this team that takes off, even crises happen in the midst of placidity, already at 4-0.
You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes in Facebook y Xclick here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Comments are closed.