The roulette wheels of the League and the Champions League are turning again and Real Madrid is clear about it: in the coming days it will be their turn to bet everything on red. The visit to Osasuna, a team that has earned the right to dream big, opens a transcendental stretch of the course in which the whites need to cut ground against Barça to keep alive their chances of revalidating the scepter in the domestic championship and they will return to meet in his fetish tournament with an old acquaintance who also wears the color of blood. The same that the Chamartín team will have to shed in the coming weeks to achieve objectives engraved on fire that, however, hang by a thread.
«You have to have a good attitude, commitment, desire and the illusion of winning. It is an important moment of the season, the team is in a good dynamic and we must continue like this, “explained Carlo Ancelotti a day before his squad set foot on El Sadar. An ulcerous field in which Real Madrid have only managed to get the three points in four of their last ten visits in the League, but in which on this occasion they cannot afford to fail, even though the imminent trip to Liverpool will tempt to keep cards.
«The objective is to reduce the disadvantage with respect to Barcelona. The calendar is very demanding and with important matches. Each party can improve or worsen the situation. That’s football. It can go from good to bad very quickly. When the dynamics are good, you have to do everything possible to keep it going,” Ancelotti asserted in the middle of a week marked by the irreparable damage that ‘Barçagate’ has caused to Spanish football. «That people doubt the competition is not good. Sport always has to be clean and we all have to work to make it that way”, emphasized the transalpine.
Wednesday’s win against Elche had medicinal effects for a squad that already emerged revitalized from the Club World Cup, but needed to go through a spa in order to get in shape for the merciless war that was coming. Courtois completed his recovery by resting before the Elche team and he will be under the sticks again with his bulletproof vest. Vinicius also returns, once the game suspension that he was dragging due to the accumulation of yellow cards has expired. The carioca will officiate again as fuse.
Modric returns to eleven
But the whites also have reason to lament: Kroos is still absent and Benzema, once again on the edge, will stay in bed in Madrid with the hope of being at his best next Tuesday at Anfield. Without the German metronome or the French gunboat, Real Madrid will be entrusted to Modric’s trigger, who is exposed to missing next weekend’s derby with Atlético because he is alert, and to Rodrygo’s ammunition to try to surrender the fort of a adversary who managed to disarm him in the first round.
On matchday seven of the League, Osasuna faced a Real Madrid who led the championship with full victories in the first six rounds and who left ahead of the match against the rojillos at half-time thanks to a goal from Vinicius. But Kike García leveled the clash with a headed goal after the locker room, Sergio Herrera saved a penalty from Benzema in the final stretch and from the Bernabéu they flew two points that helped Barça to snatch the baton from the reigning champion.
Since then, Osasuna has not abandoned the noble part of the table and has advanced to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey for the sixth time in its history. However, the demand of the calendar also begins to take its toll. The rojillos have only collected 7 of the last 24 points in contention and receive Real Madrid with two weight drops due to suspension, Juan Cruz and Chimy Ávila, and another two less sensitive due to injury: Nacho Vidal and Rubén Peña. The best news for Jagoba Arrasate is the return of Aimar Oroz, a Tajonar jewel who was on Real Madrid’s radar five years ago. The Berriatúa coach also recovers Abde, absent against Valladolid due to suspension, and David García, who could not be in Zorrilla either due to gastroenteritis.
-Probable alignments:
Osasuna: Aitor Fernández, Moncayola, Aridane, David García, Manu Sánchez, Pablo Ibáñez, Torró, Brasanac, Moi Gómez, Kike García and Abde.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Alaba, Tchouaméni, Modric, Ceballos, Valverde, Rodrygo and Vinicius.
Referee: Munera Montero (Andalusia Committee).
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Stadium: El Sadar.
TV: Dazn.