Going through Atalanta, Zinedine Zidane should compose with out Karim Benzema. An absence of weight for the French tactician.
Tonight, Actual Madrid is again to its fetish competitors. The troops of Zinedine Zidane, who return relatively properly to the La Liga with this sequence of 4 victories, will need to recuperate the throne, in opposition to Atalanta, revelation of the final version. The group of Serie A can also be on a relatively optimistic dynamic, however little question that Gian Piero Gasperini prepares this shock with extra serenity than his French counterpart … The Marseilles native is thus disadvantaged of 9 gamers, amongst whom Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Eden Hazard, however particularly Karim Benzema. An absence of weight, essentially, which fully truncates the preparation of the assembly for the Madrid troops.
It’s easy, Zinedine Zidane has misplaced his offensive reference, in a context the place the opposite gamers lined up on the flank of the assault are struggling to differentiate. Solely Marco Asensio was, in latest weeks, in a position to make variations in the previous few meters.
To not point out the truth that he has no substitutes within the squad, Mariano Diaz being out of rhythm as he confirmed in opposition to Valladolid this weekend. The Merengue tactician, who let Luka Jovic go on mortgage to Eintracht Frankfurt in January, subsequently has few, if any, actual alternate options to cowl the absence of his quantity 9.
The perfect match for Mariano?
In a group with an already sluggish offensive animation, the place salvation comes an increasing number of from particular person actions, second balls or fast transitions, the absence of the tricolor striker is much more detrimental. This season, we have now seen that with out the Frenchman, the steadiness sheet is troublesome.
Definitely, there was the success in opposition to Valladolid – nineteenth in La Liga – final weekend, however with out the OL-trained participant, there was the defeat in opposition to Valencia (4-1), the draw in opposition to Villarreal (1-1) and the defeat in opposition to Alavés (2-1). Solely this victory in opposition to Inter (2-0) final November was an actual reference sport on which Zinedine Zidane can rely. This match can also be attention-grabbing, since coach Merengue had swapped the standard 4-3-3 for a 4-2-3-1, with Ødegaard as quantity 10 and a double Kroos-Modric pivot.
A very offensive method subsequently, aiming to manage the ball as a lot as attainable (Casemiro was on the bench), and thus maximize the variety of sizzling conditions on the sting of the floor.
With Mariano Diaz in assault, the Merengues might nevertheless produce other alternate options. The Hispano-Dominican is thus extra formidable within the deep sport than his tricolor teammate, as he additionally appears higher within the aerial sport, though Benzema stays efficient on this space as properly. A relatively optimistic level, when you think about the tendency of Madrid’s full-backs to bombard the opponent’s floor with crosses.
Going through Atalanta, a group that’s offensive to say the least, Mariano additionally dangers having house accessible, and thus scoring factors to play a roughly essential position by the tip of the season. However for this sort of match, there is no such thing as a doubt that Zinedine Zidane would have most popular to depend on his trustworthy lieutenant relatively than hoping for a coup d’éclat from a participant who doesn’t even have 400 minutes on the clock this season …
