‘Until the end’, as the motto says. Transcription of the DNA of a club that tomorrow will not only play half a season, but also a quarter of pride. Because they consider Madrid dead and that has reached the locker room, touching the fiber of a team that knows it has the opportunity to vindicate itself. Of shouting, silencing voices. Knowing that eliminating City at home, in front of their people and after not having won in the first leg (3-3), would mean breaking the board. There is a feeling in the club that last year’s 4-0 performance is history. Coincidences of life, tomorrow will be exactly eleven months of that. It happened on May 17; and on April 17, the ambition is to change history. Arguments are transmitted to think that it will be different. Drums of revenge.
An invincible team
Real Madrid has played 44 games this season: 31 in the League, nine in the Champions League, two in the Cup and two in the Super Cup. Well, of the 44 results, only one would eliminate them in 90 minutes: 3-1 at the Metropolitano. It is the x-ray of a season that from within is perceived as undervalued. “We haven’t always played well, but we have competed… and that’s the good thing,” Ancelotti said. “There is a lot of talk about quality, but what we look for most is commitment,” he added. Secret of a group that has only lost one game, in 90 minutes, out of 44. If it matches any of the other 43 results, at least, it will take the match to extra time.
This time, with ‘Rambo’
Eleven months are enough for many analyzes and in them it has been detected that the defense, then, broke down. But tomorrow will be very different: only Carvajal will repeat. Last season the wall was completed by Militao, Alaba and Camavinga. This course will be made up of Rüdiger, Nacho and Mendy, with special emphasis on Rambo, a differential factor. “Yes, he will be a starter in the second leg,” Carletto joked in Mallorca, knowing that last season, despite his great performance drying out Haaland in the first leg, removing him in Manchester was a mistake. The team is confident that this time the kaiser will be crucial. That the defensive line offers better benefits.
Rüdiger leaves the Bernabéu before the first leg.Eurasia Sport ImagesGetty Images
Trust in Camavinga
The lock will also change: eleven months ago it was Kroos who acted in the position, escorted by Modric and Valverde. A magical trivote… but one that lacked physicality. This time there will be Camavinga, who shines for a spectacular moment and assumes the mission of, precisely, reinforcing the center of the defense, inserting himself between the center backs. There will be more contention in the engine room, more energy, more sweat. That dose of muscle should counteract the superiority that eleven months ago was overwhelming. Undeniable. A lot of confidence in this variable.
‘Factor Bellingham’
Also in that in the birthplace of ‘Hey Jude’ (City has been playing it in their stadium for years, almost like an unofficial anthem), he sings it with more force. Let him return to his devastating, scoring, more differential version. Of his 20 goals, he has only scored three in 2024, confirmation that he is going through a notable desert. But it is between the dunes… where the oases appear. And in the other Gallagher home, Jude wants to make amends. Confirm his improvement after a good performance in Mallorca. The Englishman has never beaten City and owes him a debt: while at Dortmund, she was his executioner in 2020-21 (precisely, in a quarterfinal) and his rival in the 2022 group stage -2. 3. In the latter, he scored: he already knows what it’s like to roar at the Etihad. But he has never knocked down City.
Bellingham and Haaland greet each other before the game.JESUS ALVAREZ ORIHUELADiarioAS
A new way to attack
Ancelotti will maintain the two-ball scheme on the left, with Rodrygo dropped to the wing and Vinicius more centered. A formula that surprised at the Bernabéu and intimidates for the return. “Vini is very humble and has understood that this system can be good for the team, with him playing more inside, where he does not need too many touches to score, a quick movement is enough. It is something that I have spoken with both of them and they agreed,” Ancelotti said. A solution that translates into a gauntlet throw. Madrid will go out for the game, they will go to win, to vindicate themselves at the Etihad. They leave him for dead and that motivates him.
2024-04-16 03:59:05
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