Real Madrid's eight point weekend
This week the VAR controversy took place in the Benito Villamarín, with Feddal bringing Morata down in the box. A challenge in which the Betis man first unbalanced the Atlético Madrid striker, then cleared the ball behind the goal-line. The referee, due to the way the ball went out, saw it as a corner. The VAR didn't warn him, because he didn't see it as a major mistake, a debatable concept. This is the problem, at first the VAR was looking at everything and now it's just for "black and white decisions, not grey areas". The problem is that whether something is back, white or grey depends on your perspective. For Atlético this non-penalty, just as they were getting excited about catching Barcelona in the table, was a hammer-blow.
Barcelona, then, got off lightly for their draw against Valencia, because at the end of the weekend, they're a point further ahead of second place. On the other hand, Madrid made up some ground, and it's well known that when Barcelona are ahead they look in their rearview mirror a lot, to check where their eternal rivals are and they're never far enough away. The winner of this round of matches then is clearly Madrid. Boskov, that eternal optimist, who got over a 9-1 defeat saying it was better to lose a game conceding nine than lose nine conceding one, used to say in these situations: "We've won eight points". Just to be clear: the three Madrid picked up, the two Barcelona dropped and the three Atlético missed out on.
These are happy days for Real Madrid, for Benzema, for Vinicius and the squad in general, except for Bale and Marcelo. The Welshman had an hour and did very little. Marcelo was once again on the bench with Reguilón in his place, who, it should be said, set up the opener. Lucas and Reguilón or Bale and Marcelo to face what's coming up? That's the question. And what's coming up are three trips away: to Barcelona, Atlético and then Ajax. That's what the fans leaving the Bernabéu were talking about after the 3-0 win this evening, which was more laborious than it seemed, with the goals from Benzema, Vinicius and the returned Mariano. A serious part of the season beckons, but Madrid are going into it at full strength.