El Real Madrid tonight he starts the engines of a season in which he himself has made sure that the demand is extremely high. When hardly anyone expected that the past would be one of the best in the club’s history, the return of Ancelotti to the White House culminated in the conquest of three of the four titles in which Madrid appeared. Only the Copa del Rey, in the dark night of San Mams and without Benzema in the team after being injured against Elche, he escaped from the Madrid target.
In Helsinki, where the 14-time European champion has never played, the green traffic light turns on for a campaign in which six titles appear on the horizon again. The sextet they achieved in their day Barcelona and Bavaria is the goal of a Real Madrid who has his kryptonite in the Copa del Rey, a title that resists him. The last time he did it was in 2014, with Ancelotti and the final gallop of Bale before Bartra to beat Pinto, and who since 1993 has only conquered once more, with Mourinho in 2011. That 2 of 29 has kept the whites out of the treble (League, Cup, Champions), a page that remains to be written in the impressive history of white successes.
The challenge kicks off at Helsinki Olympic, the stadium of the triple crown of Zatopek in the 1952 Games (gold in 5,000, 10,000 and the marathon) or the World Cup double Carl Lewis in the first World Championships in Athletics, in 1983 (100 and Length). A city with little tradition in the world of football hosts the reunion between Real Madrid and Eintracht, the first since that anthological final of the European Cup in 1960. The 7-3 with the four goals from Puskas and the three of By Stfano.
Today, as then, Madrid’s favoritism is absolute. For everything: players, coach, history, last Friday’s 1-6 at the Eintracht Bayernsize of the club, for having the next Baln de Oro (Benzema)to the best goalkeeper in the world (Courtois)… For everything except the color in the stands. There, once again, the German domain will be absolute. The Frankfurt fans travel en masse with their team, as Barcelona well know, and with more than 8,000 tickets requested for Real Madrid’s 1,800, it is estimated that the proportion in Helsinki will be 10 to 1 in fans.
Madrid, expert in finals
Not be new to whites. Nor is it a problem for a team that has made winning finals their way of life (16 wins out of 18 since the second golden age in its history was inaugurated in 2014). It will not be a hostile environment that intimidates some players who crush their rival in titles and games of that caliber.
Ancelotti send to the field the same ones who were starters in St Denis. It is the law of a veteran coach, of those who respect the gallons of the booth. The Italian mam that as a player and respects him as a coach. just the arrival of MBA, which was the cornerstone of Madrid this season, would have changed that script. But with the Frenchman at PSG the bet has been continuity and strengthening himself with two pieces of equipment such as Rdiger y Tchouamni. The two will start from the bench in a team in which there is no doubt that Fede Valverde is the owner. The energy of the Uruguayan has knocked down doors, walls, fixed schemes, improved Carvajal, protected to the CMK and converted to Rodrygo and Asensio in second-half players.
El ounce of Pars
That is not a discredit in this Madrid. “You don’t have to give so much importance to the starting eleven. It matters more those who finish the games”. That sentence by Ancelotti is from last August. The development of the season the load of value. Rodrygo, Camavinga, Asensio and even Ceballos can tell it well. In Helsinki, Madrid starts as a favorite that few are betting on a narrow match and in which it is necessary to shake it from the bench. But this is football, a final and a German team, with what that always means in this sport. Of course, Eintracht also knows what Madrid does with the finals.
