The national champions try to break their losing streak at home against the co-leader, who they have not scored in their last five home games
On May 20, Betis set foot at the Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid, already declared League champions, facing the dress rehearsal for the Champions League final in Paris, where eight days later Liverpool waited. After that game, the Santiago Bernabéu lowered the blinds to football, while renovation work on the Colosseum on Paseo de La Castellana accelerated. Gone was a 0-0 draw for the whites, but it served their opponent to secure fifth place in the domestic championship and finish a brilliant course culminating in winning the Copa del Rey at La Cartuja.
It was the fifth consecutive table signed by the Verdiblancos during their visits to the fief of the current fourteen-time king of Europe. And for the fifth time in a row, they came out without a single scratch. It is true that Carlo Ancelotti’s team played at half throttle that day, with their minds on their journey to the city of the Eiffel Tower, but the equalizing goal confirmed the condition of an ulcer rival to their interests that the Heliopolitan team had in the past. turn.
When 106 days have passed since that appointment, the Chamartín Temple reopens its doors for a heartbeat at the summit. After playing their first three league games away from home and taking a string of wins, Real Madrid are returning home to welcome another team that has started the season like a rocket. Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis, an old acquaintance from the merengue parish whose meritorious work was not properly appreciated in the noble environment of the Bernabéu because the ‘Alcorconazo’ mortally wounded him and Pep Guardiola’s Barça gave him the finishing touch, calibrates the whites in the reuniting with their fans in what is a true altitude test.
“We have a great feeling when we return to the Bernabéu. We had good times last year and we want to repeat them again. We have started with a complicated game against a good team that is going to compete,” warned Ancelotti, recalling that the Engineer’s troop is “in good dynamics and confident”, after accounting for Elche, Mallorca and Osasuna in a triple showdown in which the Andalusian bloc conceded just one goal.
The transalpine hosts are in for the first corners of the season with the dispute of five games in the span of fifteen days. The Champions League kicks off on Tuesday and the whites are plunged into a hectic calendar that will test their depth in the squad before the national team break. The good news is that three of those clashes will take place in the merengue and Ancelotti is hoping to capitalize on the push from the supporters to keep Real Madrid at cruising speed.
“We are favorites because of what we did last year. Every season has its dynamics. It will be a more competitive League than last year and the Champions League the same,” warned the Real Madrid coach, who has only eliminated Odriozola and Vallejo. He is recovering. Nacho, who missed yesterday’s game against Espanyol due to a contracture in his left thigh, meaning he has a clear prospect of continuing to apply the rotation policy he has designed to tackle the most demanding course one can remember.
Most likely it will refresh the sides, after oxygenating Carvajal and Mendy in Cornellà. The ease of continuing to polish the automatisms in the midfield invites us to keep the bet on Tchouaméni as bodyguards for Modric and Kroos, or vice versa, bearing in mind that the Normandy pivot is also an asset to consider when he hangs out on the attack, as he demonstrated with his help to Vinicius in the perico fence. Upstairs Rodrygo asks for a seat, but Valverde gets strong.
Betis, for her part, goes to court with the relief that she has finally processed the pending registrations. William Carvalho and Fekir’s newfound willingness to redistribute his salary made room for the ‘reinforcements’ of Claudio Bravo and Willian José, vital for a team that overcame the first three hurdles with a starving bank in troop numbers. “We were able to keep all the players, it was very necessary for the project,” Pellegrini sighed.
The Chilean has sanctioned the absences of Pezzella, for the direct red he saw against Osasuna, and the aforementioned William Carvalho, with an ankle edema. Despite this, he trusts the Verdiblanco’s to show personality and keep their duende in the white arena. “You can always do it again when we’ve made it five times. You have to be the same team as always,” he claimed.
Source: La Verdad
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