Two weeks after the historic whistle they received from their fans against Levante, Real Madrid will face another one this Sunday. … Volcanic after-dinner meal in front of Rayo Vallecano. The crash that occurred on Wednesday against Benfica on the last day of the Champions League will force Chamartín’s team to undergo a new trial at the Santiago Bernabéu in a vital duel for the whites to maintain the fight for the League with Barça and lessen the anger of a fan who has lost patience with a block that seems incapable of mending.
«It is a very important match and fundamental for our aspirations in the League to be able to beat a team that is always very uncomfortable, pressuring and aggressive. “Everyone knows well the identity of Rayo Vallecano and the difficulty they are going to put us in,” warned Álvaro Arbeloa in the run-up to a match in which his players, the coach himself and the board will once again go through the dock in the hope that a good performance on the pitch will help them obtain clemency from the jury.
«I always ask the Bernabéu for their support, because with them we are much stronger. They know that our objective, obviously, is to win and continue in the fight for the League, that we are fighting very hard with a lot of enthusiasm. If we want to stay there, we need them,” said the Real Madrid coach this Saturday in a press conference in which he defended that “it is neither a time for disappointment nor a time for euphoria,” but rather for “work.”
Arbeloa thus wanted to address the gaps that the very tough defeat against Benfica opened in the locker room, visible in the statements of Mbappé reading the report card after the poor performance of the whites in Lisbon, and trying to turn the page with a cholist response when asked if he harbored a feeling of revenge after learning that the type will be played again against Mourinho’s squad in the play-off of the top continental competition: “Rayo Vallecano,” replied the Spartan, following the usual procedure in these Simeone cases.
Bad dynamics against the franjirrojos
That red-and-white tic makes sense considering the bad dynamics that Real Madrid has in its most recent confrontations against a rival that is at the bottom of the table and has barely added a victory in the last eleven days, but that has only succumbed in two of the last seven league derbies that it has played against the merengue team, with four draws and one victory for those from the fringe in the middle of a streak that speaks clearly of the indigestible character that the Vallecanos have adopted for their powerful neighbors in the current decade.
A new slip by the whites this Sunday would have disastrous effects, so we should not expect Arbeloa to allow himself too many licenses with the eleven. The coach once again took out his sword in defense of his praetorians this Saturday, reaffirming the status of a handful of footballers such as Vinicius, Bellingham, Valverde, Mbappé and Courtois as starters, despite the fact that only the last two have demonstrated sufficient merit this season to have said banner. This being the case, and given that neither Trent, nor Rüdiger nor Mendy are yet ready to return to combat, it seems that the block that will be submitted to the scrutiny of the Bernabéu will differ little from the one that crashed against Benfica.
As part of the accusation, a Lightning will appear who fights against his own ghosts. The Vallecas grass is in a mess, the Ciudad Deportiva where the franjirrojos train is also a disaster and, worst of all, the results are not consistent. Iñigo Pérez, who recovers Nobel Mendy after suspension and also has Ratiu and Balliu available to stop Vinicius after the two full-backs overcame their respective injuries, acknowledged that they are experiencing “convulsive weeks” at an extra-sporting level, but assured that they will maintain their “identity” at the Bernabéu with the hope of completing “an excellent match” that will help turn the tables.
-Probable alignments:
Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Asencio, Huijsen, Carreras, Arda Güler, Tchouaméni, Bellingham, Mastantuono, Mbappé and Vinicius.
Rayo Vallecano: Batalla, Ratiu, Lejeune, Mendy, Pep Chavarría, Oscar Valentín, Isi, Pathé Ciss, Ilias Akhomach, De Frutos y Álvaro García.
Referee: Díaz de Mera (Castilian-Manchego Committee).
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Stadium: Santiago Bernabéu.
TV: Dazn.
