After Manchester City in the qualifiers, Real Madrid defeated Atlético Madrid and secured their place in the Champions League quarter-finals. For Jorge Valdano, former player, coach, and sporting director of the club, the double encounter against Arsenal will be a completely different challenge.
Defending Champions League holders, Real Madrid are not ready to leave the competition anytime soon. Despite a new format for the competition that has become tougher for teams due to the significant number of matches, Carlo Ancelotti’s team is fighting to make history with a double.
Although things looked bleak after the group stage, everything points to the fact that the Madrid side can go all the way after eliminating Manchester City in the qualifiers and Atlético Madrid in the last 16. For the next round against Arsenal, Jorge Valdano, a true Madrid legend, has made an announcement about what will happen in the quarter-finals.
Jorge Valdano warns in advance
On the Movistar channel, where he has become a well-known voice, Jorge Valdano, who remains one of the most listened-to voices in Spain due to his football knowledge and his exploits with Real Madrid as coach and sporting director, warns that things will be completely different against Arsenal. While some believe that the path is now clearer for Carlo Ancelotti and his players, the 69-year-old legend states that Real will need to play a different brand of football to have any hope of qualifying against the Gunners, one of the best teams in the Premier League.
“Against Arsenal, Madrid will face different challenges,” reveals Jorge Valdano. Mikel Arteta’s men form a “team that wants the ball” and will not hesitate to defend and attack with possession. That is why it will be a match “opposite to the one they had against Atlético.” In essence, the profile will be different, and it will be similar to Liverpool, who play a flamboyant style of football.
Madrid’s attackers expected to rise to the occasion
To show that they have what it takes to reach the semi-finals, Carlo Ancelotti’s team will not only have to control the ball, but also be very solid defensively. After matches against Manchester City and Atlético Madrid, the Madrid side has shown that they can be impenetrable, especially with the central defensive duo of Raúl Asensio and Antonio Rüdiger, along with Federico Valverde on the right. Now, Ancelotti will just need to find a way to get his attackers, who didn’t perform well against the Colchoneros, to step up.
As Valdano warns, Arsenal is an almost complete team with world-class defenders, midfielders, and forwards. To make an impact, Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo Goes, and others like Kylian Mbappé, who struggled on Wednesday night at the Civitas Metropolitano, need to regain their confidence in front of goal and score as they did against Manchester City in the qualifiers.
The first leg will take place on April 8 in England, with the second leg scheduled for April 16 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
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