Direct Chronicle
Federico Valverde lives illuminated these days. He has added a rare clairvoyance to his overwhelming drive that roused Real Madrid from their lethargy on Sunday, trailing behind Mallorca, against RB Leipzig, a team they had repeatedly brought to the brink of defeat. But the Uruguayan struck again, left-footed again, to change the game and seal their eighth win in eight games since the start of the season.
two
Courtois, Alaba (Ferland Mendy, min. 80), Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Rüdiger, Aurelien Tchouameni, Modric (Kroos, min. 80), Camavinga (Marco Asensio, min. 63), Federico Valverde, Vinicius Junior (Dani Ceballos, min. 84) and Rodrygo (Mariano, min. 84)
0
Gulacsi, David Raum, Abdou Diallo, Willi Orban, Mohamed Simakan (Benjamin Henrichs, min. 74), Xavier Schlager, Nkunku, Dominik Szoboszlai, Forsberg (Yussuf Poulsen, min. 80), Amadou Haidara (Kevin Kampl, min. 74) and Timo Werner (André Silva, min. 80)
Gates 1-0 min. 79: Federico Valverde. 2-0 min. 90: Marco Asensio.
referee Maurizio Mariani
Yellow cards Amadou Haidara (min. 72), Nkunku (min. 81), Dani Carvajal (min. 83) and Xavier Schlager (min. 89)
The last time Madrid performed at its stadium in the Champions League, the occasion sparked one of the hottest emotional moments in the club’s history. On that May 4th against Manchester City, Ancelotti’s team bounced back from a comeback just above elimination, a comeback that was more limited than that of the previous two qualifiers, which is also unusual. The continuation of the history of the European Cup in Chamartín could only be an experience of several levels less intensity to breathe after the hot flash and the joy. At the beginning, Leipzig was even several points below expectations. That or that Madrid had resolved from the first moment to return home. The Germans threatened early and did so exactly as expected. At high speed.
You will be treated with a very simple and familiar program; occasionally devastating. Once they’ve recovered, put that right in. Nkunku, Szoboslai, and Werner run, confident that Forsberg will launch them into space shortly thereafter. First of all, with Madrid, they were left with the first part of the plan. The match hadn’t even dragged on when Vinicius threw a miss at Tchoaumeni, which fell to Forsberg. The Swede naturally accelerated and licked the ball to Nkunku even faster, only against Courtois, who was once again a savior at the limit.
This was repeated with a few variations in an astonishingly persistent manner. Leipzig’s arrows crossed Madrid’s lines on the run like cutting a jelly block.
In the other direction, too, Real’s game didn’t flow the way he thought it would. Vinicius, always fearsome, was hardly a rumor in the stands when he entered harmless areas. Proof of the rarity of the clash is that Madrid threatened more with Valverde than with the Brazilian. The attack, without Benzema, shrieked, jerky, blunt. It was up to Rodrygo to close the gap for the Frenchman after the failed test with Hazard but the Brazilian couldn’t find the areas to place the mortar to connect the lead and activate the danger.
The pace was high and the Germans watched the unfolding with a certain composure, waiting for a lapse to throw themselves in front of Courtois again. The Belgian was too often alone with an opponent, almost the only thing that worked at Real.
Ancelotti was impatient on the line before boring thrift. He waved his arms, clapped his hands as if trying to wake a sleeping squad. Camavinga was also excited, desperate at not finding partners to get up front and had to turn to his centre-backs Ruediger and Nacho while Alaba switched to left flank in place of Mendy.
The team, with seven wins in seven games, seemed to have caught a cold and Ancelotti decided to introduce Asensio, who was sidelined until then, between his flirtation with a summer move and the moment of Rodrygo and Valverde’s form. The Mallorcan got angry on Sunday when he had to return to the bench after a warm-up match to see how the game ended against the team he was training for. After sulking, the Italian singled him out to shake up a team that wasn’t showing a pulse. But the Bernabeu greeted him with a volley of whistles of distrust. Ancelotti had said that the footballer trained very well after the tantrum and that he liked it. The crowd liked to see him threw himself onto the turf to clip a ball very close to his own area. Almost everything was forgotten: applause when he countered with Valverde and Vini and almost scored with Vaseline.
Although the definitive alarm clock, like Sunday, was the Uruguayan. He equalized just before half-time against Mallorca and unraveled a game against Leipzig that looked like a giant oil tanker.
After the goal, almost in the 80th minute, the comeback area, everything was easier. So much so that Asensio even had time to complete his half-hour equalizer to make it 2-0. Kroos took a free-kick forward from the side of the box and the Mallorcan delivered that clean and fatal strike that hit the post and ended another happy evening of European Cup at the Bernabéu.
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