The harsh reprimand from the Santiago Bernabéu to the Real Madrid players during the league match against Levante had an effect. At least that’s what … comes from the white victory over Monaco in the Champions League, a kind of catharsis that has changed the mood of the always cyclothymic merengue environment. However, once peace was signed between the Madrid dressing room and the stands thanks to goals, the only key to football, the question now lies in the ability of the team led by Álvaro Arbeloa to sustain that reaction over time.
Ceramics begins to resolve that question. Nothing better than a demanding outing, against the third-placed team in the League, a two-faced Villarreal, as excellent in the regularity championship as it was disappointing in its journey through the Champions League, to examine whether Madrid’s improvement is a notable trend or simply a flower of a day resulting from seeing the wolf’s ears in the form of the sound of the wind.
Only Barça, the other major candidate for the title, has been able to assault the yellow fiefdom, where Marcelino García Toral’s team has been able to add 25 of the 30 points at stake to date. It is therefore an interesting cotton test before the spotlight focuses definitively on that last challenge in the Champions League phase against Benfica, which will leave the reunion between Arbeloa and José Mourinho, who was his coach at Madrid and as he himself acknowledges, one of his greatest football influences.
For now, Chamartín’s team has the opportunity to temporarily take the lead, waiting for the match between Barça and bottom team Oviedo at the Camp Nou on Sunday. An interesting incentive for a team that arrives at La Cerámica still with minimal defense. Rüdiger does not arrive in time, which once again makes the centre-back pairing of Asencio and Huijsen clear.
On the sides, Valverde remains at the front waiting for Carvajal’s better form while Carreras regains his usual place on the left lane, after the experiment with Camavinga, which had good results. And the Frenchman aims to be Madrid’s anchor in Villarreal due to the absence of his compatriot Tchouaméni, who is serving a suspension for a cycle of yellow cards. Güler and Bellingham, in tune against Monaco, also aspire to an eleven with Vinicius and Mbappé as regulars and the only doubt about the occupant of the right flank of the attack, which Mastantuono seriously opposes after what has perhaps been his most convincing performance since his arrival last summer.
The garter suit
Marcelino’s Villarreal, who couldn’t have any joy in the Champions League by losing to Ajax with no chance of qualifying, turns the page on the top European competition and dresses in the League suit, by far the one that best suits the Yellow Submarine this campaign. They had been able to accumulate eight wins in nine games, with the only blemish being the defeat against Barça, until last weekend’s setback against Betis in La Cartuja.
Their notable scoring pace places them in third place in the table, equal on points with Atlético but with one game less due to the suspension at the time of the match that was to face Levante in the Ciutat de València due to adverse weather conditions.
Marcelino, who, with no real possibility of qualifying, rotated against Ajax, recovers important players in his scheme such as goalkeeper Luiz Júnior, Juan Foyth, Buchanan, Mikautadze, Gerard Moreno and even Pape Gueye, who will be honored at La Cerámica after winning the Africa Cup with his team, Morocco, and who could meet again throughout the match with Brahim, the cross of that final after missing the penalty in stoppage time. could have given the title to Morocco.
-Probable alignments:
Villarreal: Luiz Júnior, Pau Navarro, Foyth, Renato Veiga, Pedraza, Buchanan, Gueye, Parejo, Moleiro, Mikautadze and Gerard Moreno.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Asencio, Huijsen, Carreras, Güler, Camavinga, Bellingham, Mastantuono, Mbappé and Vinicius.
Referee: César Soto Grado (Riojano Committee).
Stadium: La Cerámica.
Time and TV: 9:00 p.m. Movistar LaLiga.
Worth a look
