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Three talking points ahead of Athletic Club vs Real Madrid
Real Madrid will face the grind in their upcoming games as they play Athletic Club, Atletico Madrid, and Real Sociedad in a span of nine days. The defending La Liga champions must quickly amend their poor form, for they are already chasing a deficit in the title race.
They first travel to Bilbao where they cross swords with Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club at San Mames tomorrow. The Basque side sit in eighth place on the La Liga table, having won seven of their seventeen games so far.
Athletic Club have been desolate since their return to La Liga after the international break, dropping five points in just three games. As they look to stop the bleeding and solidify as a unit, Real Madrid must put their best foot forward to win a second consecutive away game across all competitions.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Athletic Club vs Real Madrid.
1. The happy hangover
As the Real Madrid players walked into the tunnel at half-time against Villarreal, heads bowed down in shame, one felt that the team was broken mentally. Even in their most desperate attempt to come out of the vicious cycle, they were trapped in, Los Blancos were staring down at a two-goal deficit in just 45 minutes.
The events of the dressing room over the next fifteen minutes remain unknown, but the response that followed was ground-breaking.
As if unperturbed by their poor form, Real Madrid returned to the field with real purpose. They only left the field 44 minutes later with the Yellow Submarines’ blood on their hands.
Vinicius Jr, Eder Militao, and Dani Ceballos helped the visitors complete an improbable comeback at La Ceramica to break the curse that had held them for close to six years.
Now free from the shackles of negativity and the pressure of the media, the Merengues will hope to return to their imperial best.
One good result is usually all it takes for Real Madrid to flip the switch and turn up the heat. Three difficult fixtures lie ahead on the ‘ calendar, and it will be vital for them to maintain a winning streak.
2. Keeping up with the Catalans
Three points separate Real Madrid and Barcelona at the apex of the La Liga standings. While a single matchday could see that gap annulled in theory, it could pan out to be a long and dreaded waiting game for Ancelotti’s men.
Barcelona have seemingly hit their peak form at the right time and are riding high on confidence. The Catalans have taken down both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in their last four games and slammed five past AD Ceuta earlier this week.
For Los Blancos to catch up on the league standings, Barcelona must drop points. Until such a golden opportunity arises, however, the men in white will be under constant pressure to maintain the uniform gap and prevent it from widening.
The defending champions have been relatively slack in La Liga recently, and the situation is worrying. Having dropped seven points in a span of just five games, they have shot themselves in the foot.
Every game in La Liga now no longer comes with the cushion a league game promises. One slip-up could be the difference between winning or losing the title, and it is high time Ancelotti & co. come to terms with the same.
3. Payback at San Mames
The last time Real Madrid and Athletic Club faced off at San Mames was the quarter-final of last season’s Copa del Rey.
Ancelotti’s men bore the favourites tag as they walked into the stadium against one of La Liga’s finest teams. What followed in the next ninety minutes is a story no Real Madrid player would wish to recall.
Despite having close to 60% of the possession against Athletic Club, the men in white were suppressed in attack and exploited in defence. The hosts had a whopping 15 shots on target including eight blocked shots as opposed to Real Madrid’s seven and four respectively.
Wave after wave of Basque attack tormented the Merengues‘ defence and the fortress eventually collapsed painfully in the penultimate minute of the game.
With seconds to go on the clock in regulation time, Alex Berenguer got onto the end of Mikel Vesga’s ball and put it past Thibaut Courtois to eliminate the favourites from the cup.
Real Madrid have a chance to avenge their painful defeat when they face off against Ernesto Valverde’s men at the same venue on Sunday. Coming off a win at one of Spain’s most difficult stadiums, they will look to conquer another well-reputed fortress, this time in the Basque region.
The derby weekend is here as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are set to lock horns on Sunday afternoon at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
After an eventful transfer window and a stuttering start, Atletico Madrid reaffirmed their position as genuine title contenders and have done decently well so far this season.
With four wins, a draw and a defeat to their name, they sit on 13 points after six games.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, have only had one defeat and are on 15 points after as many games, only behind Barcelona who sit on a perfect record.
Diego Simeone’s men had a shaky start to the season, but have picked up steam in recent weeks with seven goals scored and none conceded in their last two games.
Given their strong record against Real Madrid at home, they will look to take all three points tomorrow.
Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid.
A test away from home
It is no secret that Real Madrid’s form on the road this season has been poor, not necessarily for the results themselves but how the team have conducted themselves in away grounds.
For the first time in years, there appears to be a sense of uncertainty around Los Blancos’ ability to produce results away from home.
For long periods in the game, they appear willing to hand over the momentum, and the resultant pressure has seen them collapse.
A last-gasp winner from Carlos Espi handed them the win against Espanyol away from home, and they went on to lose against Real Betis in their second away fixture of the season.
Most recently, they bottled a 2-0 lead against Elche and again required a stoppage-time winner from Espi to take the three points.
Tomorrow’s game, in that sense, is extremely challenging, for it is not only away from home but against an opposition of high quality.
Playing Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano is as challenging as games get, and Real Madrid have an extremely poor record at the venue.
Since 2017, Real Madrid have only won twice at the Metropolitano with three defeats and three draws. Last season, they suffered a 5-2 defeat and the game went on to break the team’s momentum.
Heading into such a tricky clash with an ongoing crisis away from home makes Sunday’s clash very complicated for the Merengues.
Arda Guler has to return
After a long time, Jose Mourinho took the Yan Diomande experiment to the next level and handed the player back-to-back starts for Real Madrid.
Clearly, the new signing still has a long way to go in terms of his adaptation, but he has been promising as an attacking outlet in his few appearances.
Diomande started both against Rayo Vallecano and Elche, but there is a strong case to drop him for the Madrid derby and play Arda Guler instead.
The Turkish international was on the bench against Rayo Vallecano and played as a No. 10 against Elche, with Jude Bellingham rested. Now, with the Englishman set to return, the manager has a decision to make.
Mourinho has made it clear that he wishes to ease Diomande into Real Madrid’s dynamics to reduce the pressure on his shoulders. Fielding him from the start in a derby would contradict that idea.
Beyond that, however, Guler has shown far more utility and promise as an attacking and creative outlet than Diomande, making the right-wing decision quite clear for the manager.
Real Madrid with and without Guler have been two completely different stories this season, and the team will require every last bit of creative inspiration that he has in him to get past Atletico Madrid tomorrow afternoon.
There is also a case for Brahim Diaz to be brought in, and the Moroccan star is also probably ahead of Diomande on the pecking order. Guler, however, stands out as a top option even ahead of Brahim.
Eyes on Vinicius Jr.
For years, Vinicius Jr. has always utilised the big stages to make his statements, for he has been a player to speak through performances and not words.
For instance, he scored a stunning solo goal last season against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup at a time when he was least expected to do so. At that point, he had not scored in 16 straight games, but the big moment called out to him.
It is clear that the Brazilian is not going through his best moment right now once again. The past few weeks have been hard on him, especially after he did well at the World Cup and returned to Madrid with higher expectations on him.
So far this season, Vinicius has only scored one goal in seven games. Beyond the goals, however, he has not looked like his usual threatening self on the flank and has not created half as many chances as he usually would.
Such is the player’s situation that his place in the team is being called into doubt for the first time in years. After all, Yan Diomande can play on the left and showed glimpses of his ability in the previous game.
All eyes, thus, will be on Vinicius on Sunday to see if he can step up to the occasion and make his presence felt when it really matters. He has always been one for the big stage, and tomorrow’s stage is the biggest yet this season.
