Ldown to Sergio Ramos creates a disturbing scenario for the Real Madrid. When the Champions League looms, the competition in which Zidane’s team puts almost all its effort to reach a title, the absence of the captain threatens twice. The results in Europe without Ramos they are dire for this Madrid: eight defeats in their last 10 absences. The flip side is the leadership vacuum that goes hand in hand with his absence. The bracelet is now for Benzema and players like Modric o Kroos They have boards, stripes and experience to command the booth. But there are three others that, at times when the game is sinking, give signals that they should be counted on for everything.
The shadow of Keylor Navas threatened, for many months, with swallowing Courteous. The Belgian arrived as the best goalkeeper of the World Cup in Russia, but his first season in the Madrid it had nothing to do with that label. The Costa Rican’s not leaving until a year later generated a situation in which no one won. But today nobody in the club remembers the goalkeeper of the three Champions League.
The figure of Courtois has grown. There is no game in which it does not leave a stop of those that forces the madridista to exclaim and curse the rival. The one i signed in Huesca to the head of Rafa Mir It is one of the LaLiga stops.
The goal of Bree It has been earned through stretching and security to be one of the cornerstones of this Madrid. It was last season with a Zamora that explains in large part why Madrid were league champions. And in this one he carries a museum collection of decisive stops. For example, the heads up that he saved in Mnchengladbach with 2-0, which meant the closure of the passport and almost the death certificate of his team in the Champions.
The defensive security of this Madrid has nothing to do with that of the end of last year, but nothing is attributable to the Belgian. The 30 goals he has conceded are far from the best European records this season, but in saves he surpasses Oblak, Keylor, Allison, Ter Stegen …
In addition to what happens on the field, Courtois has become the official spokesperson for the team in bad times, when showing his face is not to show off a victory or goals. In almost all the defeats this season, which have not been few (eight), the goalkeeper has been the one who has stood before the microphones to explain. It is not a captain, in fact the armband in a normal eleven in Brgamo It would only come as the last option, but he is the one who speaks for the dressing room when he least wants to.
Courtois became a giant when Madrid needed him the most
The Brazilian is undoubtedly the most important player on the team at a tactical level. In that sense, Madrid’s dependence on 14 is absolute. It does not have a natural relief, something to mitigate the arrival of David Alaba Y Zidane flee from their rotations like the plague. For example, your last two absences in Champions they have also been defeatsCSKA y Shakhtar).
In this football where everything is heard, it is easy to understand when going to a game that there are two voices in command of Madrid on the field, those of Sergio Ramos Y Casemiro. The Brazilian is now riding for his sixth season since returning from Port. Today he is an essential footballer, a cornerstone of Madrid champion of everything and one of the sustenance when things have turned bad. Because in Casemiro Zidane finds answers for almost everything, whether to play as a center-back or against Levante when the team remains with 10, whether to score goals or generate them, as was the case in the second against Huesca.
Goal by Casemiro (0-1) at Alavs 1-4 Real Madrid
Before him Atalanta, a team with a continuous punch and a constant round trip that invites its teams to split in two, Casemiro’s balance seems essential for Madrid. That, and the command of a player without Ramos on the team multiplies his value as a boss on and off the pitch.
For a long time, he has had to carry the phrase that he did not have to be the one to pull the cart. Now he does, even if the spotlights are not looking for him. Since it started in 2021, the Spaniard is Madrid’s most incisive player in attack. Every game that passes his team looks for him more. Why Marco He is no longer the fearful player, a natural consequence of the serious knee injury suffered and a far from easy recovery. As seen in Huesca, Asensio’s confidence grows as his power gives him arguments to believe in his game.
Today’s version is about that player for whom Rummenigge raved about in 2017. “We must make a monument to him! Now will Real Madrid let Asensio go for 50 million? I think not,” he told El Pas.
Its volume of play translates into impact in the dangerous situations that Madrid generates. In The Alcoraz generated the lack of a tie, appeared in almost all dangerous actions and left a diagonal that reminded the explosive soccer player before the World Cup in Russia.
Goal by Asensio (1-0) at Real Madrid 1-2 Levante
So far this season, Asensio is the second Madrid player who has tried to shoot more times on goal, of course the differences are enormous and that explains many of Madrid’s offensive problems: 86 attempts by Benzema (40 on goal) for 12/36 of Asensio.
The return to normality of Asensio is vital for Madrid, especially in view of the hole in attack created by the continuous injuries of Hazard. Live only from Benzema It is impossible to aspire to the Champions League and not give up in LaLiga with months ahead. That is why the signals sent by the Balearic Islands, those to take charge of offensive operations, are for Zidane an element of hope and optimism at a time when the Madrid it needs captains on and off the field. And Asensio, with his work outside Valebebas with the Llorente method and that every time he feels safer in the field, he has signed up to pull the car. Even if I don’t say it out loud.
