Continuous session. Like in the movie theaters of the last century. At 3:00 p.m., first film: Southampton-Liverpool. At 6:30 p.m., second tape: Leganés-Real Madrid. Sessions prior to Wednesday’s big premiere at Anfield: Liverpool-Real Madrid. Both Arne Slot, ‘red’ coach, and Carlo Ancelotti, white coach, planned the last rehearsals with their minds set on the Champions League duel. and, under this influence, they organized their respective elevens. It was inevitable, even if the circumstances and needs of each team were different.
The domestic points were vital, but the European ones will be no less so. They both won. Liverpool suffered more due to their bad head and starting to think about Madrid ahead of time. He ended up coming back to the touch of Salah, one of the few unique footballers who continue to step on the football fields. For their part, the whites walked with Butarque against one of the weakest rivals they have encountered so far this season. The Dutchman, recently landed in the Mersey basin, reserved McCallister and Luis Díaz, but ended up turning to them because a victory eluded him that, against the bottom of the Premier League, seemed a given and it was not so.
The Italian, already settled in Madrid for a long time, had much more iron. He also reserved pieces that look like headlines on Wednesday: Mendy and Modric. But at the same time he tried to resolve doubts that have tormented him somewhat. It was about trying on the suit he wants to wear at Anfield. He wanted to know first-hand how Mbappé handled himself on the left wing, his favorite. How Vinicius could become a theoretical center forward. How Valverde adapted to the position of right back, which was not strange and, finally, how Asencio demonstrated his aptitude to play in the elite alongside Rüdiger.
After the match, Ancelotti blessed all the tests. Four. The Anfield suit is ready to wear. The normal thing is that he repeats with those four players in those same positions. The exchange of positioning between Mbappé and Vinicius is conditioned by the right back position at Liverpool. With Alexander-Arnold in the recovery phase, its presence is not safe. He plays or he does it Bradleythat area, defensively, is the most vulnerable of the Premier and Champions League leaders. The offensive vocation of both players punishes them in defense. They go up, but they don’t go down. That is where the Frenchman should appear, behind him. And in his diagonals inwards he will meet his teammate, Konaté.
Carlo is convinced that Valverde is absolutely capable of marking Luis Díaz, the Liverpool forward who worries him the most. That does not mean that Salah’s great moment of form has gone unnoticed. What happens is that he has full confidence in Mendy, whom he reserved in Butarque for the benefit of Fran García. The rest of the Anfield eleven? Put Modric where Ceballos and Brahim where Güler. Lucas seems to be recovered and is arriving, but not to be a starter. Tchouameni’s situation is more complicated, although we already know that at Real Madrid, in 24 hours, the medical panorama can take a turn and almost always for the better.
