The fire reaches Europe

The classics heal badly. There, in the beating of Barça, Madrid remained, whose defects are changing at breakneck speed from temporary to structural. They lost an organizer, Kroos, and the recovery man, Tchouameni, rightly pointed out by the Bernabéu, is a lost case. Bellingham extends its waning phase, the centre-backs are weak, Courtois' loss is becoming eternal, Mbappé spoils his good work when he looks at the goal. The result of such catastrophic misfortunes was a somewhat reserved and serious defeat against a Milan that until now had only won one game and that has little to do with the seven European Cups it has collected throughout its history. Still, he deservedly won and summoned the crisis cabinet in Madrid.

Two open wounds, that of the Ballon d'Or that ended in a deflated ball for Vinicius (the public could not think of a better protest than a whistle for the UEFA anthem, prior to the respectful silence when the Valencia anthem sounded) and the slap of the Classicin reverse chronological order, although, in any case, rain upon wet. Bad time to start losing, a vice acquired by a team that has taken the comeback as an addiction and not as an obligation. The good start, summarized in an overly crossed shot by Mbappé and an acceptable occupation of the field, was penalized by a goal from Thiaw, who headed a corner taken by Pulisic near the near post. One of those events that leave almost everyone feeling bad. Rüdiger was inattentive, Tchouameni was soft and Lunin was stuck under the posts. The confirmation of two complaints from Ancelotti: the team gets confused and defends poorly.

Milan also limps on that foot. Fonseca knows this and that's why he tweaked his usual 4-2-3-1 by putting former Valencian player Musah on the wing to strengthen a five-man defense and double the guard on Vinicius. This Milan has little left of the great empire that was, that team that won three Champions Leagues with Sacchi and Capello and that brought together the best footballers in the world, because they wanted to play there and because no one paid as well as Berlusconi. It is known to be below the best in the Premier, the Bundesliga or the League, but it is a good team, even if it took little time in delivering the tie, an invention of Vinicius, who gave Emerson the crutch of the self-pass and he fell into the trap. Trip, penalty without a VAR filter and goal from Vinicius, who knows how to self-prescribe antidepressants.

I want to eat the food

The goal was not an isolated event. Minutes before, Maignan had saved two others, from Mbappé and Vinicius, who lacked aim. Ancelotti had insisted on the 4-4-2 of the Classic with a substantial variant, the presence of Modric, which also freed up Bellingham. It remains to be discovered whether the blackout he suffers is his own or someone else's, if it is related to his state of form or his position. Because he came for what he does now and, in reality, where he was excellent was in the role of nine and a half that Ancelotti had to improvise for him due to the departure of Benzema. The truth is that until now the goal has made him weak.

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Once the tie was reached, Madrid resoundingly conceded, another annoying tic of the season. A waterway had opened in Lucas Vázquez's band, because that is where the essence of Milan is concentrated. Theo plus Rafael Leão, a repeated threat, to which we had to add Pulisic's corner shots at the near post for which Madrid took a while to find the vaccine. Letting their guard down for the umpteenth time, Fonseca's team once again took advantage. It was a serious mistake by Tchouameni that ended in the worst possible way: a shot by Rafael Leão, a rebound by Lunin and a providential appearance by Morata. His goal hurt, but more so was Tchouameni's mistake, permanently whistled. Not even Ancelotti, who applied the insistence treatment to him without results, can save him anymore. He took it off at half-time.

More of the same

Camavinga and Brahim entered, this one for an injured Valverde, two players in favor of the public, who must be beaten in any attempt at a comeback, a remedy for another evil, because it was the withdrawal that had Madrid in intensive care. Lunin had to bend like a reed to take out a header from Leão, Theo crossed too far a shot that was aiming for the goal, Pulisic missed two great counters.

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On the other side there was little to tell: an extremely imprecise Bellingham, a lack of ingenuity to break Milan's advanced defense, a general lack of mobility and an alarming lack of aim from Mbappé. The head of the party was Reijnders. Ancelotti wanted to cover that hole with Ceballos. The next notable thing was a backheel from Morata to the post. It happened before he left amid boos from the Bernabéu, which already presumed that this time the comeback would be in Japanese. Even more so when Reijnders scored the goal that he had deserved all game in Rafael Leão's umpteenth roundwho apologized profusely to his coach for past sins. Rodrygo came on when it seemed hopeless, but in the final push Rüdiger, after Maignan's failed clearance, was able to get the team into the match. A VAR offside disallowed his goal and thus ended another nightmare night. If the club looks at the table (17th provisional) and the calendar (Anfield) it will have no choice but to also look at the market.

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