The new cathedral is well worth a League

Imposing even without the faithful and dangerous for its rivals, the modern Cathedral of San Mamés hosts this Sunday a duel that may well be worth a League title and a classification for Europe. At times more typical of other countries, since playing at 14:00 in July can only be justified by the television business, two strong teams are measured.

Since the new normal, Real Madrid has won everything, although it has not wondered either, and leads Barça by four points in the absence of five games. If you add the favorable ‘goal average’, this rent is a treasure by now. They would have to win all the azulgranas and leave at least one defeat and a tie for the whites for the title to change sign. The Basques, meanwhile, have won 11 of the 18 points in contention after confinement and are packed, on their way to the old continent.

In the previous one, both technicians made their intentions clear. “San Mamés is always difficult for all teams,” said Zidane, convinced that his players will remain just as focused and with the physique exhibited so far. “If Real Madrid get all their offensive potential, it is difficult to play blows against them,” said Gaizka Garitano, who would be delighted with a very close duel, no twists and turns with spaces.

More professional, solid and effective than brilliant, Real Madrid is very close to its objective. As a visitor he beat Real Sociedad and Espanyol by the minimum since the League resumed and is preparing for a very physical duel. He appears in Bilbao annoyed for not respecting the 72 hours of the protocol between meetings and with Zidane forced to rotations to achieve freshness after the wear that Getafe demanded of them.

Benzema, happy before the Basques

Again, he loses Eden Hazard due to physical discomfort in his broken ankle. The Belgian has already been reserved against the Azulones and is not to take the slightest risk. The central defender Raphael Varane, who had played everything since the return but suffers a cervicalgia, and Nacho Fernández, who still does not recover, did not travel due to injury. Therefore, Militao will be the partner of Sergio Ramos, huge defense and championship penalty taker.

Everything indicates that Fede Valverde will start in a midfield that will be highly demanded. He can enter through Modric if Zidane bets on a trident or to keep the Croatian if he prefers to reinforce that area with a line of four, leaving Vinicius and Benzema for the offensive phase. The French striker, with a half-pointed soul, is reunited with the team that scored the most goals in his career (11). He is in such a great moment that he even sounds among the future Ballon d’Or candidates.

Meanwhile, Garitano’s team chained two consecutive victories, the second achieved in Mestalla, which have fully returned them to the fight for Europe. They have recovered a place that they lost when they focused on the road to the Cup final that awaits them against Real Sociedad in the historic derby next year. They started the day one spot and two points from seventh place, which gives the continental award.

It seems that the local coach will be able to put his eleven starter on the pitch. In addition to defensive solvency, much of the success depends on what Muniain contributes between the enemy lines, Iñaki Willliams in the overflow and Raúl García in that innate ability to win the air balls, force the second plays and drive mad rivals . From the break, four unpayable goals from Navarre add, two from penalties and two from play against Valencia.