Real Madrid go into World Cup mode and lose their first game in Germany
Carlo Ancelotti's face twisted in the press conference before the match against Leipzig. It was the fourth question he had been asked about the World Cup in Qatar and whether his players were already thinking about not missing out. The Italian, with his usual calmness, said that anyone who doesn't want to get injured should stay on the sofa at home.
A veteran like Carletto knew that all the work Real Madrid did until November would be for the benefit of what might happen once the World Cup was over. Their games up to the visit to Germany were all wins except for one draw in La Liga and one in the Champions League. Real Madrid are first in the domestic competition and, if worse comes to worst, they would go through as group runners-up to the last 16 of the Champions League.
Against Leipzig, Ancelotti changed up to six players. Some were forced absentees such as Valverde, Modric and Benzema, three key players. It was a good time to see Asensio, give minutes to Nacho or brighten up the flank with the runs of Lucas Vázquez.
But Leipzig were not going to put themselves in front of 45,000 fans who were determined not to challenge Real Madrid. Added to that, the Whites came out of the blocks in the first few minutes. Something was missing from the starting eleven that didn't keep the players alert. Maybe it was Benzema and his Ballon d'Or, maybe Modric. The fact is that within 20 minutes Gvardiol and Nkunku had already made it 2-0.
Real Madrid woke up and took control of the game. The problem with this team, and in particular the one that played in Germany, is that they had no strikers to step into the box. Without Benzema, without Mariano and with Hazard on the bench, it was Rodrygo, Vinicius and Asensio who had to create moves that could not find a finisher.
At the end of the first half Asensio put a ball onto Vinicius' head which the Brazilian finished off with both feet on the ground from the penalty spot at one of Blaswich's posts to make it 2-1.
In the second half Ancelotti continued with his changes. He needs to give minutes to some, dose others. He doesn't want to talk about the World Cup, but he knows that his players have a very important date and that this time there are no recovery times for any injury.
Carvajal, Alaba and Hazard came on in the second half. All eyes were on the Belgian, who still hasn't got off to a good start and everything is waiting to see how he performs with Belgium at the World Cup in Qatar to find out what he is playing for.
In the 81st minute, Simakan's run down the right set up Werner to make it 3-1. Real Madrid did not throw the game away and, although they were running out of time, they kept looking for a goal. The reward came in a penalty on Rodrygo that Orsato seemed to miss at first glance, but the VAR warned him that it was very obvious.
The Brazilian made it 3-2 on 94 minutes and the game was over. Ancelotti assured at the end that the defeat does not make him angry, nor is it a problem because if they beat Celtic they will go through as group winners and avoid some tough opponents, although after what happened last season, anything is possible. Courtois was much harsher and charged his team-mates for the lack of intensity and the three goals conceded.
On top of that, Sevilla booked their place in the Europa league with a 3-0 win over Copenhagen, Isco scoring the best goal of the game. City were held 0-0 by Dortmund. Juventus is another "failed" team, as Mourinho would say, who go to the second European competition after losing 4-3 against Benfica.
Of note was PSG's 7-2 win over Haifa with two goals from Messi, two from Mbappé, one from Neymar and one more from Carlos Soler. Ramos, Bernat and Fabian Ruiz were also in the starting line-up in a team where all their stars also want to shine in Qatar.
