By: EFE
By: EFE
The Elche and the Real Madrid will be measured this Saturday at the Martínez Valero stadium with the need to win to get closer to their respective goals in the competition, in the case of Madrid get regularity to assault the leadership with the unexpected absence of Karim Benzema , while the people of Elche want to stop his fall.
Nobody expected a new sudden stop from Real Madrid, lifted from the first slump of results (a draw and two defeats between Villarreal, Espanyol and Sheriff), with his thrashing in Kiev against Shakhtar and the triumph of the Camp Nou classic. Osasuna and a defensive approach that choked the team of Carlo Ancelotti returned the irregularity to the whole white and prevent him from reigning in LaLiga.
The Santiago Bernabéu’s goalless draw against Osasuna confirmed his worrying trend in his fiefdom, where he must propose from possession without the possibility of exploiting the lethal counterattack that he exhibited in Kiev and Barcelona. Looking for solutions, more tactics than names, Ancelotti faces the visit to Elche, before which he signs full of triumphs in his four matches in the first stage.
With Luka Modric recovered from the discomfort that prevented him from being in the last game, a second novelty could come in defense with Dani Carvajal recently recovered from his last muscle injury and the option of giving way to Lucas at the beginning Vázquez so as not to overload him. The rest -Militao, Alaba and Mendy- are untouchable for ‘Carletto’, although that means that Nacho Fernández has run out of minutes at once and has already chained three games without playing.
In the offensive trident come changes. Everything points to the return of Rodrygo to eleven, after the failed attempt with Marco Asensio against Osasuna. He wasted his chance to start, as well as Eden Hazard in the minutes in which he should have revolutionized the duel, but it went unnoticed.
Vinicius Junior, despite his recent symptoms of fatigue, will continue to be the benchmark of the team, even more so with the absence of Benzema , who dragged a blow to the right instep of Kiev and Ancelotti has granted him rest. Between Luka Jovic and Mariano he must choose the substitute, with more options for the first, in an examination of a player without rhythm who must contribute the lost goal since he put on the white shirt.
The Elche team, still undefeated this season in their stadium, aspires to cut their bad dynamics in one of the most anticipated matches of the year for their fans. His situation is delicate, since he has dropped into the danger zone after having added only one point of the last nine in play, despite facing an affordable stretch of the calendar.
Pablo Piatti , with discomfort in a soleus, is the only casualty of the Elche team for this commitment, in which the team coach, Fran Escribá , prepares changes in the line-up after the defeat in Vitoria, the day on which he will become the coach who has led the most matches at Elche in Primera with 105.
He already warned that to face a week with three games it was necessary to make rotations, so changes are sensed in all lines, especially in attack, where the Argentine can return Darío Benedetto .
The presence of Javier Pastore as holder in the middle point is another option, although the Argentine, after a year and a half injured , he is not yet in his best physical condition.