Athletic, who tie three games without winning, receive a team confidently taking advantage of its cup return as a turning point
Quique Setién recalled in the preview of Thursday’s cup match against Villarreal against Real Madrid that an injured animal can be much more dangerous. The whites, whose defeat in the Spanish Super Cup and the bad feelings they radiated since the return of the competition threatened to create a crisis, left the Ceramic Stadium alive, although they doubted whether they had made it because they are busy to win the kings of the jungle or, on the contrary, they behaved like lambs whose survival instincts enabled them to take advantage of their predator’s hubris to save their necks. In San Mamés, land of lions, the unknown can be cleared up about a squad that had a bipolar attitude in the tile area.
Unpredictable and self-assured in the first half, Real Madrid rebounded in the second half with a signature comeback that managed to restore their self-esteem. “The reaction was very good,” said Carlo Ancelotti on Saturday, who is confident that the victory over Villarreal will be a turning point in a stormy month of January. To that end, he read the introduction to his students. “We played football effectively, but we also made mistakes. You can’t train, you can only recover, so we watch videos to avoid those mistakes and not repeat them,” he said on the eve of another high-flying classic in La Cathedral.
Under the magnifying glass are the “positioning and reading errors” in applying pressure that have cost Real Madrid so dearly in recent times, as Ancelotti acknowledged. “Sometimes we don’t push and we have the time, sometimes the line isn’t together. We sometimes go out under pressure when we shouldn’t go out. Sometimes individual decisions are made that affect us. Our area is a friend, not foe, that’s what I say to the players. We have to control our house well. Anything that can get behind the line can be a danger, good control is essential. Before you press, you have to control your back well’, said a coach obsessed with correcting those alarming imbalances that have helped his squad conced eight goals in the last four games. “Intensity and ideas will be important, not giving away what we gave away,” the lawsuit warned this Sunday.
Ancelotti has no good memory of his last visit to the Athletic fiefdom, where his team was killed in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey a year ago. Then, as now, Real Madrid offered far from optimal performances and two weeks after stumbling in San Mamés, the Whites’ building was in danger of collapse after succumbing to PSG in the Parque de los Príncipes. The rest is known history.
The infirmary turns a block upside down that will step on the rojiblanco temple without Carvajal, Lucas Vázquez, Alaba, Tchouaméni and Hazard. Ancelotti summoned Modric, who he rested on Thursday, but this time he did not call on a Castilla footballer, so he has just 18 expedition members for a match that Athletic is also facing urgently.
Ernesto Valverde’s side have added just two points in the last three days and last Saturday’s derby defeat has affected both the standings, with the Lions out of European positions, and making the eleven against Real Madrid. Suspended in Anoeta, Yeray will not be able to get out of the match, after the Appeals Committee rejected Athletic’s appeal and the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the provisional red card order seen by the central defender against Real Sociedad.
Iñigo Martínez is still injured, which puts the focus on Aitor Paredes, a 22-year-old cub with just five appearances with the elite, all as a substitute. Everything indicates that he will form a couple with Vivian. “He has little experience in the First Division, but he is prepared for important games,” said Valverde, who does not trust his opponent’s bump. “We would all like such a crisis, if we win the League and lose the Super Cup, we could already have a problem of this type. They have enough arguments to win or overcome, unlike Villarreal. Unlike Barça, which has a distinctive style and way of playing, what it does is spare no expense or capture. If you play well, you are about to lose. You can never neglect yourself,” the Txingurri reasoned.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
