Vinicius, an army of one

It is one thing for Madrid to go into a trance as soon as the chords of the Champions League sound and another to forget everything else. And it is that he was about to skip the scale in El Sadar before stepping on Anfield. Osasuna, for many minutes, swiped the lyrics of the anthem, it was all nerve and heart. Also organization and knowledge of the game. A very hard-working team that did not earn a point for Vinicius, an army of one, who lost the goal battle with Sergio Herrera, a hero from Pamplona, ​​but won the match war with an assist to Valverde that put Madrid to sleep, five points behind Barça. Preventive pressure, it’s called. There was also an amazing appearance, that of Álvaro Rodríguez, who in five minutes left two assists, one valid and one not. A nine is about to hatch.

Since Madrid has not yet decided which club to stick with, Ancelotti opted for a hybrid model in Pamplona. The plan is to throw the rest into the probable without neglecting the possible. So Kroos, Tchouameni and Benzema were kept in Madrid, Carvajal on the bench and put everything else (which is not too much if you take into account the usual quartet of discontinued players), including Valverde on the right. Northern parties, where Madrid is never welcome, demand their lungs. At nine minutes he was denying Abde a shot. It is essential for the coach because he knows how to be in both areas.

On the other side of the net, Jagoba Arrasate played more than expected, starting with the goalkeeper. A surprise, because Aitor Fernández had a great ratio of conceded goals. But Sergio Herrera is going for Madrid. In a season and a half he has saved Benzema three penalties. He also won the first pulse to Vinicius, who stood before him after clearing a ball from Moncayola, who is not a sentinel on the wing. Someone had to eat Vinicius’s brown with the two injured right-backs of the team and it was his turn.

Vinicius and Moi Gómez, good and quarrelsome

Osasuna has a courage inappropriate for his budget. Press up, advance the defense, look little behind his back. He likes El Sadar, with whom he blends in, and Arrasate. So there was a game in the open field, up and down. in the blink of an eye Budimir took away, due to undue interference, a sure goal from Torró, Courtois saved a shot from Manu Sánchez and Valverde sent a volley near the door.

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Madrid is eclectic by vocation and not by necessity. So before that harassment from Pamplona he threw a long ball to Vinicius and Rodrygo. He is not obsessed with staying with the ball but with the game. He was about to leave him in a pass that Vinicius caught with a spur. The second touch, very long, condemned him. Osasuna applied an aid system to mitigate the Brazilian’s wriggling. A strict but clean vigilance, except for a friction with Moi Gómez that cost them both a yellow card and that led Ancelotti to request, without much reason, an audience with Munuera. Even so, Madrid was reduced to the good ideas of its star and the constant presence of Camavinga, a player still with flaws but with an almost unprecedented virtue at his age: personality. Nothing wrinkles him. Until now he has proven to be less impressionable than Tchouameni, whom Madrid has come up against.

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Camavinga and Vinicius on the sidelines, the initial Madrid had little grace. The Osasuna center-backs buried Rodrygo, Valverde was more there to close than to open and neither Modric nor Ceballos broke lines. The Navarrese team was what his coach defines as his ideal team: “Tactics and rigor and then each player brings out the wild side of him to unbalance.” Their footballers were better in the first, the easy, than in the second, the complicated, although before the break Budimir had his chance. He ruined the recovery with a bad shot at the insistence of his teammates.

white finish

In the locker room, Madrid took a look at the table and went up one gear. The team gained traction due to the reappearance of Modric, a more ambitious progression from Alaba through his band and a greater participation of Rodrygo in the operations. Two of his threads could end in a goal. Also two superb maneuvers by Vinicius in which Sergio Herrera caught him. A return to those times when he spoiled a great game due to a poor definition. Minutes before they had annulled a goal for clear offside in a set in which he evaporated the goalkeeper with a mini hat. Nothing happened near the Osasuna area in which he did not participate. Moncayola was barely swallowing that toad until Arrasate released him, advanced his position and changed surveillance with the youth squad Diego Moreno.

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Something similar happened on the rojillo side. A superb Moi Gómez directed everything. A low shot of his hit the post. Another, from Moncayola, brushed him. Osasuna had recovered his tone and his legs, despite the tremendous previous effort, but Vinicius was still there, repeating over and over again, until, finally, one came out. He entered through his band, He waited for him to corner three in the area and put the pass to Valverde, which he finished without opposition. Exhausted, with his calves steaming, the Brazilian was able to finish off the job with a pass from Álvaro Rodríguez, who was making his debut in the competition. It was canceled for offside, but moments later, Asensio, also with a pass from the youth squad, lowered the blind. Now it’s time for the Champions League, that haunted house in which Madrid appears to almost everyone.