Real Madrid visits Butarque to face Leganés on matchday 14 of LaLiga EA Sports. After the resounding victory against Osasuna prior to the national team break, Carlo Ancelotti’s men are looking to continue in good shape. In front of them they will have a very brave Pepinero team and a stadium that will be difficult to conquer.
The race for leadership involves continuing to win
The meringues return to the domestic competition after two weeks of work in Valdebebas. Some internationals like Jude Bellingham, Arda Güler or Antonio Rüdiger demonstrated their worth with their national teams but it’s time to return. Important games await Real Madrid before saying goodbye to the year, most of them in LaLiga. The resounding victory against Osasuna not only gave a break to both Ancelotti’s team and the Italian himself, but also served to cut Barça three points thanks to their defeat in Anoeta. Besides, the puncture of the culés in Balaídos On this same day, a possible victory in Butarque will serve to continue closing the gap in the table.
The distance is six points from the lead, with one game less. For this reason, Carletto’s players have understood that it is only enough to add three at a time every time the LaLiga ball passes through their boots. The giant Courtois returns after recovering from his injury but the white team’s infirmary is still quite full: Alaba, Carvajal, Militao, Lucas Vazquez, Rodrygo and Tchouaméni are all sidelined with injuries. Given the plague of physical discomfort that plagues the Madrid team, some youth players like Raúl Asencio or Diego Aguado go to the first team to help, especially in defense.
The lack of defensive personnel is being noticed especially on the right side, since no specialist in that position has been called up. It seems that Militao’s replacement will continue to be Asencio along with Rüdiger but everything indicates that Fede Valverde will play lifeguard occupying the right side of the defense until Lucas Vázquez recovers. The situation still has a lot of room for improvement and Ancelotti seems to still be in the spotlight, although the resounding win against Osasuna calmed things down a bit for Chamartín. Now it’s time to see if the reaction seen two weeks ago continues to have an effect based on convincing play and good results. The next test passes through Butarque and the meringues cannot fail against Leganés despite the difficulties of injuries.
«Now it’s time to confirm the good feelings from the last game»
As usual, Carlo Ancelotti spoke to the media in advance of this league match against Leganés. The Italian began by talking about the state of the team: «The team is fine, they have returned in good shape and without problems. Those who have been here have worked well, now it’s time to confirm the good feelings from the last game.”. To continue, Carletto spoke about the option of seeing Fede Valverde at right back: «It is an option, but there are others. We have tested during this break and tomorrow we will try to choose the best possible option.”
The Madrid coach had time to remember youth players like Asencio after his stellar debut: «He is doing very well after his debut. “He is prepared and physically ready to compete.”. Finally, Ancelotti defended Mbappé in the face of journalists’ speculation about the Frenchman’s mental state: «Speculating on this seems too ugly to me».
After Ancelotti’s statements, Real Madrid made public the call for this match against Leganés: Courtois, Lunin, Sergio Mestre; Vallejo, Fran García, Rüdiger, Mendy, Asencio, Diego Aguado; Jude Bellingham, Camavinga, Fede Valverde, Modric, Arda Güler, Ceballos; Vinicius Jr, Mbappé, Endrick, Brahim.
The cucumber fort dreams of ringing the bell
Real Madrid’s last visits to Butarque have not been easy at all, in fact the Pepinero team usually makes things difficult for the Madrid team. In the last three occasions that the white team has visited the Pepinero fort in an official match, they have not managed to win (two draws and one loss). It is true that it is a recently promoted team but Leganés is showing that it wants to stay in the 1st division. Borja Jiménez’s players are excited about the clash and They will try to dedicate the victory to Franquesa, recently injured cruciate ligament like Militao and Carvajal at Real Madrid.
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Real Madrid and Leganés have faced each other 15 times: 10 wins for the white team, 3 draws and 2 victories for the team currently led by Borja Jiménez. The last precedent of an official match between both teams was found on the last day of the 19/20 season, a match that ended in a 2-2 draw. This match corresponding to matchday 14 of LaLiga EA Sportas will take place this Sunday, November 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the Butarque Municipal Stadium and can be seen through Movistar LaLiga.
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