Without forgetting what happened in Valencia and pending the sanction that today Wednesday the Competition Committee will impose on Jude Bellingham for his expulsion on Saturday in Mestalla, Real Madrid plays the second leg of the round of 16 against Leipzig at the Bernabéu without trusting too much of the 0-1 in the first leg, a somewhat misleading result because Lunin’s stops supported the team, a Madrid that for some time now seems to have taken a small dip in its game.
Furthermore, as Calo Ancelotti said yesterday in his press conference, the “best thing about Leipzig is its transitions”, the weapon that can explode at the Bernabéu if Madrid does not know how to control the game and everything comes down to a back-and-forth.
The best news for the whites is that Ancelotti is recovering his strength and practically only has the three long-term injured players off the list. A problem for Ancelotti to solve the puzzle, but a problem that all technicians would like to have.
To go back to a tie lost in the Champions League by the whites after winning the first leg, you have to go back five years. At that time, the team coached by Santi Solari, also in the round of 16, beat Ajax 1-2 in Amsterdam and then lost 1-4 at the Santiago Bernabéu on March 5, 2019.
Ancelotti is clear: “We have to play at our best level because the tie is not over. We have evaluated the good things we did in the first leg and those we can improve. We can demonstrate improvement. At a defensive level we suffer and there we have to improve. Leipzig is a dangerous team in transitions. They have very fast forwards. Rüdiger returns, who will help us in this regard. We have to play a complete game to win this tie.”
In Madrid there is also concern about the drop in Bellingham’s records, which has become earthly. Until December 31, he scored 17 goals and provided five assists (0.84 goals and 0.25 assists per 90 minutes). Since January 1, his numbers are three and three (0.33 goals and 0.33 decisive passes per 90 minutes). More assistant but much less scorer.
Leipzig goes to Madrid three days after beating Bochum in the Bundesliga. In 2020 they reached the semifinals of the Champions League after eliminating Atlético. This season they have had an irregular campaign, but they beat Bayern in the German Super Cup (3-0). They are fifth in their league.
In the winter market they lost the scorer Timo Werner, but their star, the Dutchman Xavi Simons, with a past at La Masíaa and on loan from PSG, is in great form: “I believe in our team. We have to go out on the field and enjoy playing in this stadium. To all those who already consider us dead I say: nothing is impossible,” he said in an interview with the German newspaper ‘Kicker’. He has a total of eight goals and twelve assists in 33 games. The other great danger for the whites is the Catalan Dani Olmo.
