Madrid, in search of the leadership and the goal without Benzema

Real Madrid travel to Elche with a double challenge. The first one goes through the objective of attacking the provisional leadership of the League, since it can reach Real Sociedad at the top of the table while waiting for the rest of the results of the day. The second will be to recover the lost goal against Osasuna and also do it without the man who focuses all eyes on the white attack: Karim Benzema. The Frenchman did not enter the list of summoned, since Ancelotti gave him rest due to some discomfort in the instep, and leaves orphaned a team that owes him more than a third of his goals in the League.

With a foreseeable opportunity for the questioned Jovic, Vinicius now takes the spotlight, although to show all his imbalance he needs the spaces of the deployment to the counter, a scenario that Elche, like Osasuna, does not seem willing to concede, as it is difficult to think that he does not hand over command of the duel to his rival. There Madrid is getting stuck, which will help him recover Luka Modric, who fell at the last moment of the list during the week, in a logical rotation movement according to an age at which it is convenient and to dose to a greater extent.

Real Madrid have a better tone this season when they play away from the Santiago Bernabéu. The return to the La Castellana Coliseum was eagerly awaited among Madrid fans, although it was still undergoing a full renovation, but the truth is that according to the results, the white fans for now breathe easier with their visiting team. The Madrid team is warned of the dangers of Martínez Valero, where last season he left two points that would ultimately be decisive in the exciting fight for the championship against Atlético. Although Ancelotti seems to have adjusted the defensive problems with which his team started the season, the gunpowder failed against Osasuna, in a duel in which the madridistas abused lateral centers and distant shots, without clarity of ideas in the positional game .

«We also need to work on the offensive aspect. You work to create opportunities and we have had them in the game against the Sheriff and Osasuna and we have not got them. Taking advantage of opportunities means positioning oneself better, moving better without the ball and that can also be improved and we have to work on it, “acknowledged the Italian coach about the punching of his men, who seems to have suffered after a brilliant start in that sense and that it will be a much more complex task without the presence of Benzema.

Beyond the loss of the French striker, the return of Modric and the entry of Rodrygo by Asensio, no changes are expected in Ancelotti’s starting line-up, which has other good news with the remarkable level that Carvajal exhibited on his return to the pitch after his latest physical problem. Meanwhile, Fran Escribá has his entire staff at his disposal except for Piatti’s doubt. The defeat against Alavés in Mendizorroza has already put the Elche team in the fight to avoid the relegation zone, a threat that after only one point of the last nine possible, they visualize only two away.