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Valverde starts in a 4-3-3: How Real Madrid could line up against Eintracht Frankfurt
Real Madrid will step up for their fifth UEFA Super Cup final in the last decade when they lock horns against Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow. Carlo Ancelotti is seeking to win his second Super Cup with Los Blancos, and will stop at no end to achieve that.
Madrid’s Champions League campaign was topsy-turvy, to say the least. They were often thrown into the deep end, but managed to escape unscathed. Eventually, Vinicius Jr’s goal in the final against Liverpool was enough to help them secure their 14th UCL trophy.
Frankfurt are coming off quite a heroic campaign themselves. Tipped against a few favourites of the competition, like Barcelona, West Ham, and Real Betis, Oliver Glasner cruised to the trophy with a superb game plan, and attacking football.
And while Madrid remain, by far and large, the favourites for the tie, Frankfurt have proven to be Goliaths. Ancelotti must prepare accordingly, and the first step towards that is the starting lineup.
Defence
The Italian manager has hinted several times over that the new signings of Aurelien Tchouameni and Antonio Rudiger will not be handed anything on a silver platter despite being important investments.
He has stuck to the lineup that helped him win the Champions League and the big matches in La Liga. Without question that starts with the man who was arguably second only to Karim Benzema for Madrid – Thibaut Courtois.
The Belgian will, we predict, be guarded by a quartet of defenders, led by Eder Militao and David Alaba. Rudiger will probably have to claw his way over one of these two if he wants a shot in the starting XI.
On the right flank, Daniel Carvajal should get the nod ahead of Alvaro Odriozola and Lucas Vazquez, while Ferland Mendy probably takes over responsibility on the left.
Midfield
With French superstars Eduardo Camavinga and Tchouameni knocking on the midfield’s door, Ancelotti might have a hard time deciding who takes the starting spots.
However, depending on his words last week, we can assume Real Madrid’s Bermuda Triangle starts against Frankfurt. This, of course, is in reference to Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Casemiro.
Attack
Karim Benzema has carried on his form from last season into the pre-season, scoring a goal each against Club America and Juventus. He has the chance to lift his first trophy as first-choice Madrid captain, and we highly doubt he’ll let it go to waste.
Much like the Champions League final, Federico Valverde will likely start on the right side of the attacking trio. He assisted the Vinicius’ goal in the UCL final, but more importantly, his relentless pace and pressing will help surpress Frankfurt’s counter-attacks.
The last piece in the puzzle, unsurprisingly, should be Vinicius Jr. The Brazilian has kept himself busy in the pre-season with a ton of interviews, but will be hoping to score another goal in the final tomorrow night.
Vinicius · Benzema · Valverde
Kroos · Casemiro · Modric
Mendy · Alaba · Militao · Carvajal
Courtois
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.
Tom lubulwa
August 10, 2022 at 4:39 am
I thought Antonio Ruduiger could come in for Eder miltao