14 in 46: Real Madrid take their first breather of the year
Following defeat to Girona, this week sees the squad of Santiago Solari get the opportunity to recover properly, but decisions have to be made for El Clásico.
The Real Madrid squad return to work on Wednesday 20 February at 11:00. With their last game ending around 14:00 on Sunday, this is a very timely break of two and a half days, considering the schedule that they've been following across January and the first half of February.
Real rest for Madrid
Santiago Solari has been managing his squad with two games per week since the turn of the year. This has allowed Los Blancos a maximum of just four days between matches, a total of 14 matches in 46 days, averaging out at one match every 3.3 days. They started 2019 with a visit to Villarreal on January 3 - the game had been postponed due to their involvement in the Club World Cup at the end of December. These 14 games were witness to Madrid's gradual improvement in performances although this ended with the shock loss against Girona. The record: nine wins, two draws and three defeats. Nobody has played as many games as Real Madrid in 2019.
The next match for Madrid is on Sunday 24 February against Levante in Valencia: an evening kick-off meaning that they will have had more than a full week after the visit of Girona to the Bernabéu. This is a valuable period for Solari to get his players back to their physical best after such a demanding run, although there is a clear awareness that following the next league game comes a double-header against Barcelona (LaLiga and Copa del Rey) and the second leg of their Champions League tie against Ajax.
The question is, will the manager look to give more rest time to his preferred starters against Levante, in preparation for the perceived harder games? If so, he runs the risk of seeing a repeat of what happened against Girona, and that can't be allowed to happen if Liga hopes are still alive.