If there’s one thing that’s responsible for the remarkable number of turnovers and consequent rotations that Carlo Ancelotti has been forced to make at Real Madrid this season, it’s that the debate about what’s happening on the pitch remains constant.
And the white team’s season is going well. Real Madrid, who suffered much more than they did against Girona, arrived in Germany with significant losses to face Leipzig in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
Ancelotti lost five men: Courtois, Alaba, Militao, Rudiger and Bellingham. He decided to rebuild the defense, moving Carvajal back to right-back, placing Tchuameni in central defense, putting Brahim Diaz in the position of Jude Bellingham and Lunin in goal.
It so happened that the victory of the white team on the Leipzig field had two very clear names: the name of Brahim, the author of the only goal in the match; and Lunin, who made nine stops and left with a clean sheet.
Given that Real had a harder time finding the net than usual, it was important to keep a clean sheet. And Ukrainian Andrei Lunin found himself under sticks on Tuesday. His superb performance appears to be crucial to securing a starting position until Thibaut Courtois is available again, although the Real Madrid goal debate is becoming one of the usual classics in any meeting where the Madrid team is discussed.
The question was asked by Juanma Castaño in El Partidazo de Cope: Will Kepa get minutes or will Lunin no longer move more than Courtois once he recovers?
Kepa Arrizabalaga has been forced to sign for Real Madrid in the summer market after the Belgian goalkeeper’s serious injury was confirmed. And he was one of those who looked like he was going to win the title, given that Ancelotti liked him.
After this Tuesday’s match, the remaining official matches of the season are 18 matches for Kepa and 17 for Lunin.
If we take the last 20 official matches, we will see a clear trend towards the advantage of the Ukrainian:
Real Madrid 3-0 Sporting Braga: Lunin
Real Madrid – Valencia 5:1: Lunin
Cadiz – Real Madrid 0-3: Lunin
Real Madrid – Naples 4:2: Lunin
Real Madrid 2-0 Granada: Lunin
Betis – Real Madrid 1:1: Lunin
Union Berlin – Real Madrid 2 – 3: Kepa
Real Madrid 4 – 1 Villarreal: Lunin
Deportivo Alaves 0 – 1 Real Madrid: Kepa
Real Madrid 1-0 Mallorca: Lunin
Arandina 1-3 Real Madrid: Kepa
Real Madrid 5–3 Atlético Madrid (Super Cup): Kepa
Real Madrid 4-1 Barcelona (Super Cup): Lunin
Atletico Madrid 4 – 2 Real Madrid (Cup): Lunin
Real Madrid 3 – 2 Almeria: Kepa
Las Palmas – Real Madrid 1:2: Lunin
Getafe – Real Madrid 0-2: Lunin
Real Madrid 1 – 1 Atletico Madrid: Lunin
Real Madrid 4-0 Girona: Lunin
Leipzig 0 – 1 Real Madrid: Lunin
Roberto Palomar was the first to respond to the question of whether Ancelotti closed the goalkeeping debate.
LISTEN TO COME’S GREAT GAME OPINION ON THE GOALKEEPERING DEBATE AFTER LUNIN’S BRILLIANT MATCH WITH LEIPZIG
What’s important to Palomar is that “Ancelotti went crazy and made a fair decision because his goalkeeper was Kepa. I think this is the quality of a coach“, he assessed.
Ciro Lopez compared this season’s debate to what happened with the rotation of Iker Casillas and Diego Lopez, although he sees differences: “No color“.
Manolo Lama was more decisive: “Lunin asked why?“.
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