Next February 6, Real Madrid for the first time in the year will face a top team, whites from this moment take the road to reality; a reality that can be exciting or cruel according to the results that they can obtain against FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid. The majority thinks (I include myself) that Madrid should not have problems to eliminate Ajax and placed for the ninth year in a row among the 8 best in Europe. But no doubt a bad result against FC Barcelona in the Copa del Rey or in the League against Atlético de Madrid can leave extremely vulnerable to those led by Santiago Solari.
Madrid have found against extremely inferior rivals the confidence they lost with Julen Lopetegui and also with Santiago Solari himself. It all started on January 13 where they achieved an agonizing victory at the last minute against Real Betis Balompie and from there Madrid has won 7 consecutive victories, leaving figures of 19 goals in favor and 6 goals against. Although the rivals have been very weak and have not put any resistance (Leganés, Sevilla, Girona, Espanyol and Alavés) were these parties that until recently were doing uphill to whites. These 7 wins in a row has confirmed that this Madrid can beat the weak teams of Spain, it has quality and now also confidence to finish this type of matches against small rivals.
We can not talk about a lack of quality Madrid, reviewing all its lines we can see that it has many of the best players in the world, however, it does not seem to really have anyone capable of replacing the loss of a superstar like Cristiano Ronaldo, who almost never failed in the great dates of the season. Karim Benzema in these last matches has managed to complete great football performances that have been accompanied by goals -goals that until very recently were made elusive- however in the 3 games of maximum demand that has been arranged in the season: Real Madrid 1 Atlético of Madrid 4, Atlético de Madrid 0 Real Madrid 0, Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 0 the Frenchman showed a very opaque image, erring goals sung and disconnected completely from the game. For Benzema, the matches against Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid will be his great test of fire, the French need to shine against really good teams, he needs to believe himself the substitute of the Portuguese who plays for Juventus today.
Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer there to save Madrid in these scenarios. Now it will be Vinicius JR, Gareth Bale, Benzema and the company responsible for playing very well the big games of the season; make the goals or give the assistance of the winning goal against Barcelona, Atlético or any top team that crosses them on the way.
So far this season they have only been disappointed by FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, they have not been up to the task but that could change. On Wednesday they will have a new opportunity, nothing will be worth the goals to Girona or Espanyol if Madrid is not able to beat Barcelona or Atlético de Madrid. The Real Madrid will now really check whether this team can aspire to something or simply have to settle for not staying out of Champions positions. This is the moment of truth, this is the way to reality.
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