A win in Warsaw this Tuesday against Shakhtar would confirm Real Madrid’s pass to the first knockout round of the Champions League, which will rotate with Barca in mind
Real Madrid visit Warsaw with one eye on Sunday’s classic. A haven for Shakhtar in the European exile of the Donbas team caused by the war in Ukraine, the Polish army stadium is the customs house where the fourteen-year-old monarch of the continent hopes to gain control for the round of 16 of the competition that forms the backbone of its history. A win in Legia’s traditional domains would confirm the whites’ mathematical classification for a round they haven’t missed since the old European Cup changed format. It could even secure them first place if that win coincides with a potential stumbling block for Leipzig against Celtic on Scottish soil, thanks to the full points Carlo Ancelotti’s block has accumulated so far.
The determination that the defending champion has put into solving his duties in the Champions League as quickly as possible allows Chamartín’s team to face the visit to Shakhtar without any emergency in a week where the focus is mainly on the commitment which will take place for five years. days later with Barça at the Santiago Bernabéu. While the azulgranas will risk their lives at Inter on Wednesday and therefore be forced to put all their meat on the grill, the whites can afford to manage the efforts of their key players and allocate minutes to those who have had fewer opportunities. in the first two months of the course. Those are the advantages of bending the elbows when it came time to examine subjects, it must be said, which also do not include maximum difficulty.
For example, Ancelotti came to recognize him last Wednesday, after his students went through another rehabilitation at the Bernabéu in which he lacked a better aiming practice to achieve the qualification of excellent ‘cum laude’. “It’s important to put the group stage behind you because it’s normal that it takes your energy,” said the Reggiolo coach, aware that that win over Shakhtar practically sealed a ticket that his team hopes to stamp definitively in the final. Polish capital.
This duel against the Ukrainian side was followed by the minimal win against Real Madrid’s Getafe who played one gear less, a product of the turns ahead for Barça and the World Cup just around the corner. Ancelotti is very aware of them and therefore had no qualms about admitting at the end of the meeting at the Colosseum that he will use the Champions League parador to save gas. “Tuesday it may be that things are running a bit more and the footballers who are more tired are not playing,” said the transalpine.
This scenario predicts the exit of the garage of football players such as Lucas Vázquez, Nacho or Asensio, which has been little used until now. There is even room for Ancelotti to lift the link with Hazard, which he parked a month ago. Always ready for the big circuits, Mendy and Kroos will predictably return to the eleven after halftime against Getafe. On the contrary, Vinicius or Valverde, two race cars without brakes, could slow down on the bench as Real Madrid need them to keep sixth gear engaged throughout the journey against Barça. Benzema, for his part, has to charge the trust deposit, having not seen a door since August 28. He retired this weekend and will be the main intimidating element for a Shakhtar completely immersed in the hell his motherland is going through.
Igor Jovicevic’s team lives with a Dantesque situation. Vladimir Putin’s brutal response to last weekend’s sabotage of the strategic bridge linking Crimea to the Taman Peninsula reinforced the horror that overwhelms the minds of the miners, whose relatives rise under the constant threat of bombs.
“It is a cruel situation. It’s not just football, we talk about life. We want to sleep peacefully, but we talk about life, we need help to end this war, the bombings,” pleaded the Croatian coach, who escaped to Madrid in the 1990s bathed in the Balkans and now once again sees the nonsense of the weapons in Ukraine. “When the match starts, nobody will remember what we are going through, everyone will want to see us win, but this is football,” said the former merengue youth team. “We have to be strong. Show the world that we are young but determined,” added the Zagreber, who will again trust a large part of his team’s options in Trubin’s gloves and Mudryk’s lead.
Source: La Verdad
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