The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!
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It’s match day!
AS’ expected line-up is Lunin; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema & Vinicius. Marca also stated Luka starts today.
Besides Courtois, Carlo confirmed Ceballos is out for this game and will undergo medical tests today. Per report, the issue is at his right hamstring.
Courtois updates
Carlo mentioned some good news. TbC is much better. He is a doubt for the game vs Getafe, but he might return to training next week to face Shakhtar (on 11 October) or the El Clásico.
Luck is the topic again
Carlo said he’d like to win UCL every year as it’s the most important competition in football and he dismissed the luck factor. He stated:
in a knockout of 180 mins, small details are very important, but small details don’t mean to have luck or bad luck. Sometimes to talk about luck or bad luck hides the problems your team has or the merit of the opponent. If, after the game vs Osasuna, I had said “said we had bad luck, as we missed the penalty” it would mean two things. First, to hide the defensive problems we had in recover the ball. Second, it would hide the opponent’s merit, the good game they did. Therefore, talk about this? No, but small details, yes. You can control the small details with collective engagement, good attitude, with players with personality and with a strong collective mentality. Real Madrid has its history; it’s been the club that better handled these details.
The best club doesn’t always win UCL
Xavi and Messi statements that the best club doesn’t always win the UCL was discussed in the press-conference. Carlo was asked: “If the other team wins it, it’s the best, but if it’s Madrid, it’s never the best. Why?”
Carlo answered:
We have to evaluate what is the best means; everyone has their opinion. For me, to play a good football is many things; it’s not only to play well with the ball, but it’s also about to defend well. You can’t succeed if you only do well one thing, especially in a competition like UCL. It’s easy to say that the best team wins UCL.
Camavinga is best as substitute
Another interesting question in the press-conference is a recurring theme here. It’s one of my opinions, actually. I think Camavinga has played much better coming from the bench than starting games. And Carlo agreed with this.
When he starts games, there are positional problem. When the game is more open, he does better. He needs to gain experience, knowledge about positioning in the pitch. He’ll reach that, because he is a player of extraordinary qualities, with and without the ball. He can only overcome what he misses with experience. It’s totally normal what is happening to him.
Hala Madrid y Nada Mas.