Zidane, during the Madrid-Cádiz. JJ Guillén / EFE
The Champions League was for five years the festive garden where Madrid drowned its league penalties.
However, the feeling before facing the premiere this season against Shakhtar (18.55, Movistar Champions League) is that the wind has stopped blowing in favor of the whites in Europe.
The elimination the last two years in the round of 16 by two representatives, Ajax and City, of the dominating style right now;
the little renewal of the staff;
and the downward weight of LaLiga on the continent, also suffocated by the economic crisis of covid-19, draw a not very optimistic picture for Zidane's team at this start of their fetish competition.
The doubts that arose after the general blackout against Cádiz and four days of the classic at the Camp Nou do not help to clarify the scenario either.
The ZZ team reaches the first corner of the season with a cloud over Valdebebas.
The white coach assumed without effort, within his usual laconicism, the consequences of the Cadiz revolt last Saturday: "We deserve the criticism after the game the other day, I the first," he admitted.
“We are going to try to change the dynamics.
We will do better, I am convinced.
This team has shown that, in difficult moments, it is good ”, he commented in the appearance prior to the European debut.
The first stone will not be, a priori, the most difficult, since the Ukrainians land in Spain with a dozen casualties, heavily punished by a coronavirus outbreak.
Ramos, falls before a Ukrainian team that arrives with a dozen absences due to a coronavirus outbreak
The issue in Madrid focuses, above all, on the loss of reliability of its defensive system, key in the success of the
coronaliga
, although not in the last Champions League, in which it conceded 12 goals in eight games, against the 25 in the 38 league games.
This season, in the first five crashes, the Whites have suffered 2.4 more shots on average than in the decisive stretch of last season.
"It's okay to receive one more shot," said Courtois, possibly the best of his team at the start of the season.
Despite the data and the feeling, the Belgian goalkeeper says he sees no less solidity.
“They haven't scored many goals for us.
In three games we kept the door to zero.
We are doing well ”, he assured.
The defense also faces a disturbing absence this Wednesday, that of Sergio Ramos, with discomfort due to a blow to the left knee against Cádiz.
The last three white skids in Europe (1-4 against Ajax, 3-0 in Paris and 2-1 against City) coincided in one thing: the lack of their captain.
"Hazard's injury was more than anticipated"
What is not news is the absence of Hazard, although Zidane's words about him were.
"The injury was more than expected," he revealed this Tuesday in reference to the muscle problem he suffered three weeks ago while he was rushing his general set-up and that of his punished right ankle.
“I trust the people who work here and I hope we will see it shortly, and forever.
Let him come in and stay with us all season, "he added without giving more details.
His date of return to the fields is still unknown.
With the Belgian out of orbit and the youngsters not knocking the door down, Madrid's current roster of attackers sounds scant if you look at other squads: PSG's Neymar-Mbappé-Di María-Icardi, Lewandowski-Müller-Sané-Gnabry from Bayern, Ronaldo-Dybala-Morata from Juve, Agüero-Gabriel Jesús-De Bruyne-Sterling from City, Haaland-Sancho from Dortmund, Werner-Havertz-Ziyech from Chelsea, or Messi-Griezmann-Ansu Fati-Coutinho from Barcelona.
Europe continues to be the measure of almost everything at the Bernabéu and, after two early eliminations, Madrid are beginning to feel, if not urgencies, then some rush to return to the decisive phases of
their
tournament.
In previous editions, he ended up on the canvas against Ajax and City, good examples of the game model that is now triumphing: "Football has changed physically, the intensity is high," admitted Zidane.
“I am in favor of going for the game and pressing up.
We know that we can hurt the opponent.
Although for that you have to be prepared ... very prepared ”, concluded the technician.
Will Madrid be prepared for this mission?