Last August the spotlight was on Carlo Ancelotti’s penultimate mission at the helm of Real Madrid, where the Reggiolo coach saw how he should adapt the team’s system in the absence of a ‘9’ that would make him forget the goals scored by Karim Benzema achieved every year after setting his course for Saudi football. A must that was not new for the Italian coach and that in an almost impeccable course he has found several musketeers to get closer to a hundred goals in the League.
From Rodrygo’s first goal in San Mamés to Brahim’s last in Granada, the league champion’s five top scorers have totaled 89 goals in a season in which they have obtained more points than anyone else throughout 2024 and are the only team that He has not suffered a single defeat. The replacement of the French goalscorer from Al-Ittihad will arrive on a delayed basis with the presumed landing of Kylian Mbappé on Paseo de la Castellana, and the Chamartín entity already has an achievement figure that, perhaps, they did not dare to predict nine months ago or even the most optimistic.
Jude Bellingham has 22 goals in all competitions; Vinicius, despite having missed almost three months of competition due to injury, scores 21 goals, followed closely by Joselu and Rodrygo with 17. Brahim Díaz closes the quintet with 12 goals. Nobody replaced Benzema because everyone played him. Last year, the B unit of the attack: Mariano, Asensio and Hazard combined for 13 goals. Not even half of those who now have between the striker on loan from Espanyol -1855 minutes- and the Malaga midfielder -1861 minutes- who decided to be international with Morocco in the absence of Luis de la Fuente. A duo that knows how to take advantage of the opportunities they are given. In 43 of the team’s 50 duels this season, one of these five players has scored.
The meringues have three games left in the league tournament to equal that of the 1988/89 campaign, which under the command of Dutchman Leo Beenhakker, ended the League with only one defeat. «Since that lost match – against Atlético de Madrid in the Metropolitano – we have been able to understand that something had to change. The defeat helped us change some defensive areas. As a season, at the moment, it is being easy thanks to the players. “The squad has surprised me on a general level.” Ancelotti highlighted in the preview of the duel against the Alava team in Valdebebas, where this Sunday they collected the champions’ trophy to later show it off to the Madrid institutions and thousands of fans in a route that ended in Cibeles. The next stop, Alavés at the Bernabéu, with the challenge of preparing for the Champions League final against Dortmund at Wembley on June 1, and where the big dilemma is in the goal. “Lunin has had a fantastic season… and Courtois is the best in the world when he is at his level.”
Possible alignments
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Nacho, Mendy; Camavinga, Kroos, Valverde, Bellingham; Rodrygo y Vinicius.
Alavés: Owono; Gorosabel, Rafa Marín, Abqar, Duarte; Guevara, Blanco, Guridi; Álex Sola, Rioja and Omorodion.
Referee: Mateo Busquets Ferrer (Balearic Islands)
Time and TV: 9:30 p.m. /DAZN
2024-05-14 07:26:49
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