Swings, roundabouts and injuries
By the time you read this, you might be aware of a potentially season-damaging injury to one of Éder Militão or Karim Benzema. It might be that the silvery glow from their 2-0 victory has been downgraded into a dirty brass that needs some shining, but at the time of writing, Real Madrid fans can feel good about their team.
Perhaps the hardest quality to retain in football, a game of opinions, is perspective. Most will recall that Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Pintus and Real Madrid planned for and anticipated a drop in performance after the World Cup. It is why Carlo Ancelotti wore the look of a man returning from the bathroom to find his beer glass emptied, after defeat to Rayo Vallecano and a draw with Girona before Qatar - they had worked so hard to ensure they were top when they came back.
So when that drop did come and points did slip through their grasp against Villarreal and Real Sociedad, there was plenty of angst. Being thoroughly outplayed in El Clásico tends not to help that sort of thing either. Much of January has seen the men in white look a little off-colour, jet-lagged. The indecisive defending carried on but was accompanied by bland showings from those who had sustained them in the opening part of the season.
Ancelotti probably did not plan for injuries to Aurelién Tchouaméni and David Alaba, even if no coach can expect his side to be constantly fit. Neither would he have expected Toni Kroos to come back from the World Cup showing signs of a long tournament - without having been there.
Yet perhaps it has brought opportunity too. Antonio Rüdiger looks gradually less like an active threat to teammates after a run of games. The return of Nacho Fernández brings an honesty to the side, and Eduardo Camavinga has finally converted his whirlwind performances off the bench into some consistency. Ancelotti no longer has a nagging concern in his ear when he starts the Frenchman.
And Dani Ceballos. His Italian boss has compared him to Luka Modric on multiple occasions, aided by an impressive 20 minutes here, a crucial run there. Nobody could have expected him to actually take on the Croatian’s powers this year though. In the space of barely four weeks, he has convinced the entire Santiago Bernabéu that his contract should be renewed.
Without the absences, and the less than vintage showings from the vintage, those positives would not have come to pass. If, perhaps that should come capitalised, they can get everyone fit and firing, then Real Madrid will have a stronger team and a more capable squad than they did three months ago.
Against Real Sociedad and Valencia, Real Madrid put together some of the best passages of play seen all season. There’s the odd stall and a few misfires still, but those performances reminded you that this team are Champions of Europe. In the early stages they were a familiar, cold, winning machine; these recent flickers have shown a side that can turn up the temperature. Without jinxing it, the elusive pressing outfit Carlo Ancelotti has been seeking since he returned was witnessed by many thousands of people in Madrid on Thursday.
But what of the collateral exchanged for that progress? ‘Is it a lot or a few?’, said Ancelotti of the five points between themselves and Barcelona. That is for Barcelona to decide, but it’s enough to make Chamartín sweat should they drop further back. Given the stampede of games, Benzema and Militão cannot afford to be out for too long either. Already their squad is stretched thinly over six competitions. Preventing it from snapping is a delicate task.
Real Madrid find themselves coming out of a difficult month with things to pleased about. Their football is growing, taking on features of the murderous beast that the rest of the game fears. As they spawn, it is a vulnerable stage they are in. At the very least, the malaise appears to be over.