Rodrygo

Rodrygo and the luxuries of a world-class football superstar

After being heavily criticised for their style of play, Real Madrid have put to rest any doubts with their second straight win in just one week. Despite Espanyol fielding a five-man defence at the Bernabeu, Kylian Mbappe and his teammates were still able to the opponent’s net four times.

At home, Real Madrid even fell behind early in the second half before scoring four goals in a row. This is a problem for Los Blancos as they have only scored once in the first half since the start of the season. After the match, coach Carlo Ancelotti said that it was a problem that needed to be taken seriously, but after 38 matches, the team had not lost, so things were not too serious. Returning to the developments on the pitch, the highlight was Aurelien Tchouameni starting in the centre-back position. Before the match, Ancelotti himself said he would rotate Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao. In the end, the Italian coach’s decision was right when Tchouameni played very well in the position he had tried many times last season.

Against Espanyol, the French star successfully recovered the ball 6 times. With the qualities of a midfielder, it is not difficult for Tchouameni to successfully progress the ball. Los Blancos fans were surprised many times when they saw him penetrating straight into the opponent’s defense.

In matches where he calculated that the opponent would have difficulty attacking, Ancelotti would put Luka Modric on the field right from the start. Once again, he made the right decision. The 39-year-old veteran was the player with the most passes on the field (85) and in the final third of the field (31). Besides, he also had 9 quality crosses.

Modric is still the same, always knowing how to make passes that tear apart the opponent’s defense. Kylian Mbappe is the one who benefits the most when Modric is behind him. The French striker almost scored from a pass from his senior. At the end of the match, Lukita was the one who created the second most chances, only behind Mbappe.

Modric has accepted that he will no longer be playing regularly since last season. He chose to stay and come on the field in reasonable situations. If he continues to maintain his current performance, fans may still see the Croatian star on the field more this season, although his importance may not be as before.