Ancelotti's "honeymoon" continues
Carlo Ancelotti's self-labelled “honeymoon” at Real Madrid happily continues. Last night his team secured a wonderful 6-1 win at the Bernabéu against Mallorca, with the usual Karim Benzema display (two more goals to bring his tally to eight) and most importantly the resurrection of Marco Asensio, who scored a hat-trick against the team where his career began.
This time he did not play on the wing, but behind Benzema and with freedom of movement within a 4-2-3-1 that Ancelotti resorted to again, which also allowed Luka Modric and Casemiro to have a rest on the bench. This time Vinicius did not score, but he repeated his persistent forays in the box and assisted Isco’s great goal that came at the end.
Camavinga’s impressive display
The game also served to catapult Eduardo Camavinga, who was paired with Fede Valverde in the middle of the pitch. The Uruguayan played more expansively, making great runs, especially at the beginning. Camavinga, meanwhile, had to take better care of holding the position and knew how to assume the demands of that task. It was striking to see how his teammates are already looking for him to start the play, as if he were a veteran. He has already earned everyone's trust. He is very well cut for that position. He still takes some unnecessary risks at times, but that should not be difficult to correct. Yesterday was an indication of the possibility that he will be able to cover Casemiro when needed to give the Brazilian more breaks.
All in all it was a fun night for madridistas, which was also helped by a certain weakness of Mallorca at the back, starting with the first goal, which came from a monumental failure by Gayá that Benzema punished with precision. To compensate for the easy goal, the other one he scored came from a beautiful piece of individual skill, with the Frenchman incredibly managing to take the ball down with his back before slotting the ball home.
Benzema started to play well and score goals when Cristiano left, but the most striking thing is that he continues to improve from year to year, or almost from month to month. Madrid is still not solid at the back, but in attack it has plenty to compensate for the defensive mistakes and goals conceded.