Carlo Ancelotti was given a kaleidoscope as a child, one of those translucent tubes with mirrors and sheets that generate images that change symmetrically when rotated. That extraordinary object fascinated young Carlo and taught him that a slight movement was enough to alter the result on the other side of the tube. That lesson has been enormously useful to the Italian in this tumultuous season. Because it started coexisting with the imbalance of the squad caused by the wait for the signing of Kylian Mbappé, To which was added at the last minute the surprise departure of Karim Benzema to Saudi Arabia, where this Wednesday they will play the Super Cup semi-final against Atlético.
A significant loss in a team in which the French striker was both a compass and a hammer. However, Florentino Perez maintained the ‘austericide’ that has characterized the club’s policy In recent months, in which except for the signing of Jude Bellingham, Madrid has prioritized the remodeling of the stadium over the reconstruction of the squad.
Reinventing in Bellingham
Faced with such a setback, and warned during his vacation in Canada that no reinforcements were going to arrive in attack (beyond Joselu by Mariano), The Italian remembered the kaleidoscope and turned his whiteboard around until he found a tactical drawing that would help him squeeze out the goal. Bellingham. Outstanding maneuver that has been discovered by the killer within Jude, who is still at the top of the league scoring table, with 13 goals. To which he adds four in the Champions League and 6 assists. With this movement Carletto patched the goal problem.
Besides, He has been able to make the most of Joselu whose appearances he manages in favorable game contexts, allowing him to score 9 goals. (3 in the Champions League, 5 in the League and another in the Cup). And he has been patient enough with Rodrygo until the Brazilian exploded, accumulating 11 goals and incidentally assuming the role of Vinicius during his injury. The same has happened with a Brahim with whom he admitted “not having been fair in the distribution of minutes” and that he is now the fittest player on the team, even above Bellingham, scoring and assisting in every game in which he plays. His 5 goals, in the three competitions, and 3 assists attest to this.
Courtois, Militao and Alaba, goodbye to the course
But if offensively he has been able to find the right prism, making his team’s goal profitable by placing his wingers on a changed foot to direct them to the area in the diagonals, defensively his decisions have been even more outstanding. Because Ancelotti leads the team with the fewest goals scored in the First Division despite having its starting goalkeeper (Thibaut Courtois) and his two starting centre-backs (Militao and Alaba) in the infirmary with long-term injuries such as a cruciate ligament rupture. Add to that the loss of their defensive pivots (Tchouaméni and Camavinga) for almost two months or the recurring relapses of Mendy and Carvajal.
This has forced him to rebuild a new defense with Lucas Vázquez on the right, Nacho and Rudiger in the axis and Fran García on the left. And on top of that, he has overcome the absence of the captain and youth squad due to his expulsion, a situation in which Ancelotti decided not to request the signing of a fifth center back and relocate Tchouaméni to the axis of the defense.
That of the Frenchman has been the most famous reconversion, but Lucas Vázquez is the best example of the ‘magic’ of the Italian druid on his board. The Galician is already recognized as a solvent full-back, but also when the team has needed him, which has normally coincided with the presence of Joselu on the field, Lucas has reached the back line as a winger or midfielder to serve crosses to the striker, becoming, along with Fran García, the striker’s best partner. And he has even stepped into the area to score decisive goals like the one against Vitoria, where he scored the winning goal in stoppage time against Alavés.
Valverde, the first player on his board
The other footballer who has become a wild card is Federico Valverde, the “cousin” player of the squad. The only one who has no alternative. A player who was asked last year to get into the area in attack and was given the task of scoring more than ten goals. The Uruguayan scored a dozen. But this season, with the change of drawing to optimize Bellingham’s arrival in the area, he asked for more work and has even ended up converting him into the team’s defensive pivot when Tchouaméni and Camavinga have been injured. Today Valverde is an all-rounder that many Premier League teams yearn for, But the Uruguayan has between his eyes becoming the captain of Real Madrid, an armband that he has already worn in a game.
The Real Madrid 2023-24 that Simeone’s Atlético will meet in this Arabian Super Cup is a signature team, a rival capable of offering totally different profiles during the same match. Decompensating in attack without the presence of a Mbappé or a Haaland, Ancelotti has made a virtue of necessity by activating alternative resources that now make him a consistent rival of enormous versatility.
That is why Madrid enters the Super Cup as a favorite, leader in the League and in the group in the Champions League, especially due to the reappearance of Vinicius, which will allow Carletto to line up a forward line with Rodrygo and Vinicius ahead of Bellingham, to whom he can add the electricity from Brahim and the forcefulness of Joselu. While in defense Rudiger and Nacho will have ahead of them players with enormous defensive display such as Tchouaméni, Camavinga or Valverde. After several seasons fighting with Zidane’s flower, Simeone now faces the kaleidoscope of Ancelotti.
2024-01-10 07:25:33
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