This season hasn’t started well for Real Madrid. They could live with a friendly loss against Manchester United in Michigan, but the defeats that followed have angered fans.
With the international break, Carlo Ancelotti has had two weeks to analyse what has gone wrong so far, including a 4-2 loss at Real Sociedad in their last league outing.
There have been other negatives. Atletico Madrid beat them in the Spanish Super Cup over two legs. It wasn’t quite revenge for May’s Champions League final, but it again evidenced how manager Diego Simeone’s side have gotten the measure of both Real and Barcelona. Atletico have not faded, but recruited well in the close season.
The two Madrid giants meet on Saturday in the first league derby of the season, and their seventh meeting of 2014.
Real have started slowly before and looked equally disjointed at this point last season, beating relegation fodder Real Betis and strugglers Granada by a single goal, then drawing with Villarreal in their fourth game.
The link between midfield and attack has been the problem this season and Ancelotti is taking time to integrate his latest batch of stellar signings.
Not that they ever have the luxury of time, given that the league winners in Spain rarely drop too many points.
Saturday’s derby will be the first time Real’s side has featured no Argentinians since 2006, and only the second occasion in two decades. Gonzalo Higuain, Fernando Gago, Ezequiel Garay and, most controversially, Angel di Maria, have departed.
Argentines have long been part of the Bernabeu DNA, with 29 of them wearing white, including the club’s greatest player, Alfredo di Stefano.
Atletico will make up for any shortfall of Argentines in the stadium, starting with their most important asset, Simeone, although he will have to watch from the stands while serving an eight-game ban for tapping a linesman on the head in the Super Cup final against Madrid. That leaves his assistant, German “Mono” Burgos, to prowl the touchline.
The bulky Argentine is unlikely to be intimidated and memorably challenged Jose Mourinho in a past derby.
Burgos was a goalkeeper and it was the departure of keeper Diego Lopez, who played more games for Real than any other player last season, plus promising striker Alvaro Morata and mainstay Xabi Alonso, which caused consternation among fans who couldn’t understand why Real were deconstructing a team of European champions.
Central midfielder Sami Khedira was injured in the international break, while new signing Toni Kroos has yet to settle. Asier Illarramendi, a EU€40 million (Dh190m) signing from Real Sociedad in 2013, must make an impression if selected.
“Now or never for Illara” read a headline on one Spanish front page in relation to the 24-year-old Basque.
Real are overburdened with talent, but finding the balance, in which Ancelotti specialises, has so far eluded him. The side’s focal point, Cristiano Ronaldo, voiced his displeasure over how the summer transfers were concluded, before being brought back into line by president Florentino Perez.
The biggest acquisition was the €80m spent on Colombian striker James Rodriguez from Monaco. Having already started games on the wing, as a playmaker and as an attacking midfielder, it remains uncertain where the star of the World Cup will play.
Like Kroos, Rodriguez has failed to stand out. One idea is to play Gareth Bale in a deeper role and push the Colombian further up the field.
“I’ll find the right solution for Real Madrid again this year,” said Ancelotti, who must discover a successful system using players he didn’t originally choose to sign or sell – though he would never say that publicly and claims that he approves all transfers.
He also has to work striker Javier Hernandez into his plans, a last-minute addition from Manchester United. Real’s marketers were delighted to have signed one of the most popular Mexican footballers since Hugo Sanchez. “Chicharito” is determined to break into the Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo front line and said: “No player will tell you that they train to be a sub.”
Atletico stunned Real by beating them at the Bernabeu last May in the cup final and again in October in the league. They will be happy to take a draw, but no Simeone side ever plays for a draw.
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