He Real Madrid arrives this Tuesday at the Etihad Stadium to play the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League against him Manchester City. The whites defend a comfortable 3-0 lead after the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.
In addition, the merengue coach Alvaro Arbeloa recovers the French forward in the call Kylian Mbappé and the English midfielder Jude Bellinghamonce they had overcome their respective knee and thigh injuries. So far everything seems like good news.
The two were protagonists last year against the same rival. So the Etihad game was the first leg. Mbappé opened the scoring for the whites and Bellingham He finished it off to make it 2-3, which was an important victory for a comeback.
However, now things are different. Coaches say when things are going well and they have enough players on their roster to choose from, that said choice is a “blessed problem“.
Madrid’s best moment
Now Arbeloa has the blessed problem. Since his arrival on the first team bench, the Salamanca coach has experienced ups and downs – some very lows such as the elimination in the Cup against Albacete – but in the last three games Madrid seems to have found his best moment of form.
It doesn’t seem like Mbappé’s is a problem of any kind. With 23 goals in the League and eight in the Champions Leaguethe Frenchman’s performance seems beyond doubt. The issue is positional fit, something that was already a matter of debate last season upon his arrival due to his compatibility with Vinicius. The left wing could only have one owner.
Carlo Ancelotti sacrificed the winger position Kylian and made him play frontgiving him and Vinicius freedom to exchange each other. Both Xabi Alonso and Álvaro Arbeloa have maintained that fit. The problem has come with Alonso on the bench and the Brazilian’s scoring drought.
Vinicius He scored five goals in the first eight days of the League with the Tolosa player on the bench and none in the Champions League. With Arbeloa he has recovered his sense of smell and has already three in European competition, plus four in the league. Furthermore, he has reconciled with the fans and is once again the ‘Vini’ who puts the team on his back and harangues the Bernabéu stands with gestures.
It’s not just the Brazilian, as his compatriot was also reconciled with the goal. Rodrygo before his serious injury. Before the end of the year, at the height of matchday 16 of the League, we reflected on RTVE about the distribution of goals and the astronomical distance between Mbappé and the rest.
Two and a half months later, the balance has been balanced a little more, although the distance is still very wide between Mbappé and Vinicius, first (38) and second (13). But at least we can see the number of goals in the scoreboard of other players like Fede Valverdewith a huge hat trick in the first leg for Manchester City.
The quarry asks for passage
As if that were not enough, the quarry begins to ask for passage. Arbeloa joined the first team from Castilla and at all times has claimed the value of the Madrid ‘Factory’. In the last league match against Elche it ended with seven youth playerscounting Dani Carvajal and Fran García. In the gear wheel he entered a total of five.
I was already giving minutes to Thiago Pitarchwho on Saturday made his third start, and the Bernabéu fans applauded the minutes of Yáñez, Manuel Angel, Watery, Palacios and the already established center forward Gonzalo Garciawho did not score, but has already scored six this season.
Six takes too Bellinghamwhich does not mark from the January 20 in the rout of Monaco (6-1) in the Champions League phase. The Englishman’s numbers contrast with the 23 goals he scored the season of his arrival at Madrid, the season of his last double, or the 15 of the following season; from more to less.
He didn’t seem to have much feeling with Xabi Alonso, at least that was what was reflected on the field. The player from Stourbridge (United Kingdom) did not look comfortable tactically, who this season has been lined up as centre-half, attacking centre-half and left interiorwithout his best version having yet been seen.
Before his injury, the difficulty of his fit had a ‘culprit’ in Arda Gulerbut now the Turk has seemed to fall somewhat out of favor with Arbeloa and that opens the doors for Bellingham to play in his most natural position in the midfield; with permission of Valverde.
The Uruguayan does seem to have found his best performance, coinciding with the return of the right backs and his emergency call on the wing is no longer necessary. And, if that were not enough, laughs He vindicated himself against Elche by coming off the bench and scoring one of the goals of the year from 68 meters.
In short, good results and recovery from injuries increase the blessed problems, but when it comes to Madrid and in the situation they currently find themselves in, the only blessed problem is having to defend the result of the first leg. The rest are just problems.
