What a great game to win La Liga with, 3-0 victory over Cadiz, I enjoyed the line up, seeing the regulars get rest ( apart from Carvajal, which was the only downside for me, not sure why he needed to play the full game, was unnecessarily risky) and seeing all the squad players get game time.
Amazing to see the best goalkeeper in the world back, making a great 1 on 1 save too. I do hope his return won’t affect Lunin though, I’m not 100% sure I would have started Courtois in this game, only time will tell of course, but introducing any doubt to Lunin’s confidence right before the Bayern game could be a risk. I really hope if RM get through to the final that Lunin gets his much deserved chance to play in the final, and therefore prioritising Lunin’s form should be above Courtois right now for me. I’m all for giving Tibo minutes over the next few weeks in La Liga now, to get him ready for next season, but with the full understanding that Lunin will be playing the final and I wouldn’t be resting Lunin too much as it could affect his flow.
Brahim Diaz, Fran Garcia, Nacho, Guler, Camavinga all played great games, Camavinga made a lot of tackles and interceptions in this game, looked dominate in the middle of the park. It’s such a big call wether to play him as CDM in the Bayern game and have Tchouameni as the CB or to start Nacho and have Tchouameni in the CDM role. This is where Carlo earns his money.
Militao didn’t have the best game, understandably so, it’s going to take him many weeks before he will be back to his best but the encouraging thing was at least his passing looked good and his threat in the attacking area of the pitch is great to have back again. I do hope both him and Rudiger can develop a partnership next season, if so we might have the best CB partnership in the world.
Really glad Modric is getting game time towards the end of the season, I hope it’s enough to convince him to stay another season.
CHAMPIONS!! 36th La Liga title is now official, what a great accomplishment by Carlo Ancelotti, its fair to say we don’t play the most attractive football we ever have done and I do wish Carlo would give more opportunities to certain players, but you can’t argue with anything when he is winning without a no.9, without 3 key players for most of the season, and with a new Bellingham in the team. I don’t know if there’s many other managers out there that can control this group of players the way Carlo does. 1 thing we don’t have at RM that seems to be a problem for many of the other top clubs around Europe, Man utd, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern etc is drama. You don’t hear of players being upset, wanting to leave, arguments, disagreements between the board and the manager, unrest among the fans. Under Carlo he keeps the ship sailing smoothly. It’s certainly understandable that some fans don’t always enjoy his style of play. I thought we were lucky to get through against Man City, and it was more down to the amazing effort of the players and amazing luck that Man city wasted their chances than Carlo’s brilliance and I do see the point when it comes to bringing in a manager with a more distinct style of play as I do think we have a team capable of dominating any team, however I wouldn’t trade Carlo for anyone else right now as unfortunately in todays game with players ego’s, having the stability under Carlo is probably more important than worrying about tactics, style of play etc. Especially at a club like RM in which the manager won’t have the final say on which players are signed. With Mbappe likely joining and the ego-less players like Nacho possibly leaving, keeping Carlo to manage the ego’s next season is more important than ever.
Florentino Perez also deserves great credit for building this team. His management of the club before and during the covid pandemic has allowed RM to be in this position, to be financially stable, to be able to sign amazing young talent like Camavinga, Guler, Bellingham etc. I believe he has never won back to back La Liga titles during his presidencies, lets see if he can finally do it next year. I do wish we weren’t signing Mbappe though, I’ve been through this before having to support RM when we’ve got players who I don’t particularly like. Right now this team is very likeable for me, I don’t really want it to change, trading Modric and Nacho for an Mbappe isn’t exactly a likeable move for me.
Bayern Munich up next now. I’m going to be nervous on Wednesday, I feel like we have to be in the final even more this season as I don’t want PSG winning the CL, in their last final appearance against Bayern Munich I wasn’t too worried they would win it as I thought Bayern had a better team than them, this season I’m less confident in Bayern beating PSG, so I want RM to make sure they win the CL this season. Of course I’m still hopeful for Dortmund to knock them out first though, then it’s a worry I don’t have to have. Come on Dortmund!
Now thats not to say Bayern will be an easy victory of course, they have an amazing history, a truly great club, history plays an important role in the CL I believe. So whatever form they have been in with their domestic league, I still think they will be a tough team to beat. As seen in the first leg. I think after winning their domestic league for over a decade, complacency is bound to set it, so I don’t believe their league form is a true reflection on their talent. I’m expecting a difficult game, we have to be clinical again. Bellingham I believe hasn’t been feeling his best in recent weeks, he was reportedly ill with a virus before the first leg, a game in which he wasn’t at his best, now after the Cadiz game, it looks like he is back to his best again. Let’s hope he has a more influential performance in the 2nd leg.
Personally my starting 11 would be
…………………………………………… Lunin………………………………………….
Carvajal………. Rudiger………………Nacho……………..Mendy
…………………………..Tchouameni…………………………………………
………..Valverde…………………………………….Kroos……………..
……………………………..Bellingham…………………………………….
…………………Rodrygo……………………….Vini Jr………………
I think Nacho has been great recently, I think I’m putting Tchouameni in his best position and Nacho in his. Camavinga can be a great addition to have on the bench, he can come on and influence the game from many positions.
It’s going to be a long few days wait for this one…. come on RM!!!!!
Aaron's Real Madrid Diaries 
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