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As the night stalled, the lockpick was found by Nico Paz, a 19-year-old youth player who is taking his first first-team sips with the voracity of someone who knows full well their scarcity. Madrid came and went, but the game was won by the gem La Fábrica with a long-range shot, a testament to the complete absence of shyness and quality evident on their first night in Europe. At Real there are not many opportunities for the youth team and Nico Paz took advantage of them with a memorable goal against Napoli that completed the total number of wins in the first five games of the group stage and secured the team first place, albeit a draw enough to do so.
4
Andriy Lunin, Dani Carvajal, Rüdiger, Ferland Mendy (Nacho, Min. 87), Alaba, Dani Ceballos (Joselu, Min. 57), Federico Valverde, Jude Bellingham, Kroos, Brahim Diaz (Nico Paz, Min. 64) and Rodrygo (Lucas Vázquez, min. 87)
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Alex Meret, Rrahmani, Juan Jesus (Alessandro Zanoli, min. 86), Di Lorenzo, Souza, Franck Zambo, Lobotka (Giacomo Raspadori, min. 86), Zielinski (Elmas, min. 65), Giovanni Simeone (Victor Osimhen, min . 45), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Politano (Jens Ctrabajo, Min. 78)
Goals 0-1 min 9: Giovanni Simeone. 1-1 min 10: Rodrygo. 2-1 min 21: Jude Bellingham. 2-2 min 47: Franck Zambo. 3-2 min. 83: Nico Paz. 4-2 min. 93: Joselu.
referee François Letexier
Yellow cards Zielinski (min. 48) and Jens Cayud (min. 89)
The youth player unlocked a game that initially didn’t seem like it would ever need something like this. There was a moment that summed up where this team that Rodrygo now commands is at. The Brazilian received in midfield, controlled a shot and turned towards Meret’s goal. It was like a flame was lit. There was a growing murmur in the stands. He still had a lot of ground to cover. Also some defense. But hundreds of fans began to get up from their seats. Someone stretched their arms 20 meters before reaching the area. After a journey through dark regions, Rodrygo flies enlightened, and in his wake radiates the tremor of the immediacy.
This time nothing came of it, but just a few minutes ago the Bernabéu had felt another part of its trance. Napoli opened a brief rift in Madrid’s dominance. Kvaratskhelia gained a few meters past Carvajal and Valverde and sent a pass to the far post, from where Di Lorenzo shot the ball towards the goal. Giovanni Simeone appeared there to advance the goal. The disappointment was disturbing. Because it didn’t correspond to the script of the game and because the goalscorer, Cholo’s son, a sporting icon, scored at the Bernabéu. But Rodrygo started vibrating a few weeks ago and is maintaining the frequency.
Only 79 seconds, including celebrations, passed between Simeone’s goal and the moment the Brazilian banished Chamartín’s discomfort. Brahim stole, advanced and gave the ball to Rodrygo, who stepped to the left side of the penalty area. There he took a familiar path: he moved away from the goal towards the center as he approached the corner where the goal awaited him, the same path as the two goals he scored against Cádiz on Sunday.
After the emotions, the duel with Kroos at the helm returned to the path that Real had taken. The German had laid out his cards for another lesson in field management. I listened to Bellingham, Rodrygo, Mendy and Brahim on the left for a while. The ball flowed, the players flowed in an unsettling dance for the Naples defense. When that path dried up, Kroos raised his sight glass and pointed to the other side, with long diagonals at Dani Carvajal’s advances. And when he got Napoli far enough on that side, he went back.
Alaba appeared there in one such passage and hit a cross to the head of Bellingham, who scored while running into the penalty area. English is the constant background music of this Madrid, that Hey Jude sound playing underneath as other voices join in: Vinicius when he was there, Rodrygo now, with six goals in the last four games, with 18 goals already in the Champions League , Madrid’s tenth all-time goalscorer in his fetish tournament.
Ancelotti’s team progressed smoothly without the arrival of his old friend Walter Mazzarri on the Naples bench appearing to have much of an impact. The coach made his debut at the weekend with a win in Bergamo against Atalanta, but he hardly showed any signs at the Bernabéu. By half-time the thread on which Madrid was running was cut, who returned to the field in a half-daze to find Anguissa, with impressive power, scoring a shot from barely an angle through a gap between Alaba and Lunin.
Moments later, Anguissa himself stole a ball from Ceballos, which lost momentum, and Madrid were left breathless as Kvaratskhelia, accompanied by two teammates, entered the penalty area to face a lone defender. Valverde prevented this by slipping on the grass.
Madrid had lost its bearings, the reins had slipped, and Naples took the opportunity to counterattack. Kroos no longer held the baton and Real began to apply pressure on the lack of control after Ancelotti freshened up the force by bringing on Joselu and Nico Paz for Ceballos and Brahim, who had collapsed.
Bellingham and Rodrygo compensated for the imbalances that had already occurred in Naples. The attack, which exuded a certain aroma of the urgency of comebacks, was met by Joselu’s lack of concentration. After failing to score in Cádiz, he sent a header into an empty net against Napoli and humbly placed a one-on-one into Meret’s lap. And when he finally finished, he received excellent service from Bellingham, instead of celebrating, he apologized.
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