Real Madrid wants the lead at La Cerámica
The whites will live their first league game in 2023 against a renewed Villarreal, a team they have not beaten as visitors since 2017
MADRID, 6 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid visits Villarreal this Saturday (4:15 p.m.) in the duel corresponding to matchday 16 of LaLiga Santander, aware that a win would put them leaders waiting for what FC Barcelona does at the Metropolitan, against a ‘Submarine Yellow’ who is strong at home and who will want to keep his smile, which returned after the break.
Carlo Ancelotti’s pupils live their league debut at La Cerámica in 2023, after surpassing their debut in the Cup last Tuesday with an approved ‘scraping’. The whites beat the modest Cacereño of Segunda RFEF by a minimum, after resorting to some high-quality individual action from Brazilian striker Rodrygo Goes and staying alive in the tournament.
The meeting was one more example that brilliance is not at its best in Real Madrid after the break due to the World Cup, something more stuck and less extraordinary than usual. For now, inertia and hard work seem worthwhile for a group that already carried out the match against Valladolid (0-2) a week ago, with two goals in the last ten minutes.
This triumph, accompanied by Barça’s draw, allowed the Whites to match Xavi Hernández’s men, who are still leaders with 38 points. Thus, Real Madrid could rise to the top of the table if they beat Quique Setién’s team at La Cerámica, something that hasn’t happened for almost six years. And it is that both teams chain five draws in direct duels in Castellón territory.
However, the Italian coach has a grip on the ‘Submarino’, against whom he has never lost, with a balance of four wins and two draws. In addition, the whites come to the difficult test at La Cerámica as the best visitor in the championship, with seven wins and a single loss. Precisely, this will be the first exam away from home since their last ‘hit’ away from the Bernabéu, when before the break they fell (2-3) in Vallecas.
The Madrid team faces the duel with the most charged batteries after resting the theoretical starters in the Cup, with a saturated calendar of up to 11 games in the next month on the horizon. However, for Ancelotti this is not an excuse and he will place his best eleven in Villarreal to avoid scares and follow in the lead of the leader.
“We are used to playing every three days, it suits us, we fix it well. The squad has come back quite well after the World Cup, we have had small problems, but the majority are fine. Tomorrow is complicated, but we arrive well, the team will play more fresh”, the technician pointed out in the preview.
Thus, they would repeat Karim Benzema, who returned with a double in Zorrilla, and Vinicius, accompanied by Rodrygo and his versatility in attack. Fede Valverde could also enter to strengthen a midfield that would include Tchouameni, who has already played 45 minutes in the Cup, Modric and Kroos. In defense, Carvajal points to a substitute and Lucas Vázquez would return, who rested against Cacereño.
In front will be a Villarreal that seems to have already adapted to the ‘Setién model’ that generated so many doubts in its beginnings. His three victories -two in the Cup (Guijuelo and Cartagena) and one in the League (Valencia)- after the World Cup break confirm this, adding to the two victories with which he closed the first part of the season. This places them seventh with 24 points, just one away from European places.
This makes Villarreal a hard bone for the whites, against whom they have managed to score eight of the last ten times they have received them. In their last league game, Setién’s men were able to debut the new Ceramic with a win ‘in extremis’ (2-1) against Gennaro Gattuso’s men, although the rest of the rivals in recent weeks have been less important, so that the match against Real Madrid will also allow us to see where the Cantabrian project is.
“We know that we must be very secure with the ball. There will be moments in which we will be able to dominate space to prevent them from coming out with fast players. This part is essential if we want to move the game forward. For our part, we must take advantage of the chances that we will have when let’s generate”, he pointed out in the previous Setién, who recovers Coquelin and Pedraza, so he could align his ‘gala eleven’.
VILLARREAL: Pepe Queen; Foyth, Albiol, Pau Torres, Pedraza; Couple, Capoue, Coquelin; Chukwueze, Yeremy Pino and Gerard Moreno.
REAL MADRID: Courtois; Luke Vazquez, Military, Praise, Mendy; Tchouameni, Kroos, Modric; Rodrigo, Benzema and Vinicius.
–REFEREE: Soto Grado (C. Riojano).
–STADIUM: La Cerámica.
–TIME: 4:15 p.m./Movistar LaLiga.
