The peloton's paths are inscrutable, but Madrid travels one that looks like a highway. He has done his homework in the first phase of the Champions League, where he has prevailed without blinking over his rivals, characterized by weakness. For various reasons, Shakhtar, Celtic Glasgow and RB Leipzig set up a group bicoca, the perfect appetizer for Madrid to avoid tensions in this calendar jungle, with the World Cup in Qatar four steps away. Without stress and good players, he successfully passed through Getafe, a frequent scene of rough, stuck and ugly matches.
Militão did not allow the match that Getafe had designed. The Brazilian attacked from the near post, got up with the power that characterizes him and nailed an unappealable header. Modric drew the perfect center for him. It was the second minute of a lane match for Madrid. Getafe, who had come to defend themselves and exhaust the patience of Ancelotti's players, found themselves in the opposite situation: they had to attack a team without the slightest hurry.
Madrid's management was impeccable. He ran just enough, prevented any prank to his rival and handled the game without disheveled. He wasn't distracted, he didn't make mistakes and he didn't dazzle. He did a very professional job, without wear and tear and with the absence of Courtois and Benzema, the two most important players from the previous season. Above the victory, the change in attitude of a team that last year began the championship with an average age of 29 years stands out. Bale, Benzema and Hazard started in the match he played in Vitoria, the first of the previous season. In Getafe Valverde (24 years old), Rodrygo (21) and Vinícius (22) lined up. Players who came to Madrid very young and have grown in one of the most demanding stages of football, criticized at times, discredited at others, but determined to prosper in football and surrounded by excellent teachers. Today, the three are decisive in the excellent performance of Madrid.
There was talk of evolution or revolution in Madrid, but that dilemma was masterfully resolved by the veterans. Far from losing validity, Modric, Kroos and Benzema have emerged as diligent protectors of those apprentices who are now aiming at masters. Rarely has a more effective and constant contribution been seen. In Getafe, Modric, already 37 years old, was deployed on the field with as much intensity as wisdom. He covers kilometers without pause, like a Kenyan, and covers them better than anyone, thanks to talent and class. If Madrid is going through a flat and clear route, favored by its results in Europe and some middling rivals, Barça has just seen the effect of its defeats in Munich and Milan, which will force it to make a Homeric effort to stay in the Champions League and not lead the club to an economic catastrophe, with unforeseeable consequences. He also changes the narrative of him in the League. Excess tension is bad in life and in football. Barça is not capable of abandoning its melancholic loop in Europe and suffers the consequences in the national championship, where it cannot lose its footing with Madrid, even less so before the next match at the Bernabeu. Celta arrives at the Camp Nou and it is not just any team. Every year a couple or three great matches are saved outside of Balaídos, no matter the field and the rival. With their attention focused almost exclusively on the duel with Inter, a full-fledged final, Barça faces a competent rival and their own ability to emerge unscathed from the bumpy road ahead.
