Real Madrid and Osasuna want to be crowned in La Cartuja
Madridistas and rojillos face each other in Seville for being the new ‘King’ of the Cup and adding their twentieth or first title, respectively
MADRID, May 5. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Real Madrid and CA Osasuna meet this Saturday (10:00 p.m./La 1 y Vamos) at the La Cartuja Stadium to play the final of the 119th Copa del Rey, a duel that will serve to crown the new ‘King’ of the competition, in which the madridistas will seek their twentieth title and confidently straighten the course in the final stretch of the course, while the rojillos return to the match for the trophy 18 years later and with the ambition of lifting their first major title.
It will be the sixth cup final hosted by La Cartuja, fourth in a row, on a festive day in which the white and red colors of both teams will dye the streets of the city of Seville, where the new ‘King’ of the competition will be enthroned . In addition, it will be an unprecedented final, in which the madridistas aspire to fatten their record and rojillos debut it.
Neither team is going through its best moment, after adding, both Carlo Ancelotti’s and Arrasate’s, two defeats in the last three league games. And it is that Real Madrid and Osasuna, without options in the League and with the objective achieved, respectively, have been thinking for weeks about this first great title of the season, for which they have distributed efforts in search of optimal conditions.
The ‘crowning’ of the meringues would allow them to give themselves a necessary joy given the doubts that surround the team in recent weeks, with a performance below expectations and a lack of dangerous attitude. Of the last four games, the whites have only succeeded in the ones they played at the Santiago Bernabéu against Celta (2-0) and Almería (4-2).
While his last two outings, to Montilivi (4-2) and the Reale Arena (2-0), have been two ‘hits’ that have hurt the spirit of a team that wants to get even with what would be their 20th title of the Cup in its 40th final. The whites will have to correct the disconnections in a ‘softer’ defense than usual – they have conceded 8 goals in 3 games – and show more commitment to move away from their weaker and more fragile version.
While the whites see the Cup final as an opportunity, now out of options in a League in which they let go months ago, Osasuna wants to strike a blow of authority and surprise being, a priori, the least favorite candidate. But they will play the trick of the ambition and illusion of the one who has never been a champion and dreams of lifting the entity’s first title.
Jagoba Arrasate’s men, like the whites, have lost in two of their last three games. They add defeats in the last two days, against Real Sociedad (0-2) and FC Barcelona (1-0). Both games showed a problem with the Navarrese goal, who have only converted one goal in three games. However, although it is the third team that scores the fewest goals (29) in the League, it is the group of the five major leagues that makes the most of its low scoring ability.
Both teams have gone through tortuous paths before reaching the long-awaited final at La Cartuja. Four extensions and an agonizing penalty shootout to eliminate the champion in the case of Osasuna and three comebacks against three possible candidates –Villarreal, Atlético and Barcelona– in the whites, are the arguments of some teams that ‘danced’ in the wire on more than one occasion.
Real Madrid, champions of the KO tournament on 19 occasions, lifted the Cup for the last time in 2014, with Ancelotti on the bench and Bale’s anthological goal sprinting down the left wing of the Mestalla against Barça. Nine years of drought in a tournament in which they had not advanced from the semifinals since 18-19, so they finally have the opportunity to rediscover a title with which they do not get along very well, since they have lost 20 of the 39 finals played.
A cupbearer baggage that can overwhelm an Osasuna that has not yet opened its showcase, after it came close to the feat in 2005, when it fell (2-1) in the Cup final against Real Betis. Now it is the turn of a generation that has revived the illusion of Osasunism, represented, like the merengue fans, by more than 20,000 throats that will be the 12th player in La Cartuja.
Both Ancelotti and Arrasate present casualties in their gala elevens. At Real Madrid, the presumable absence of Luka Modric is the highlight. The state of the Croatian is unknown. He has trained with the group despite his hamstring tear, although the prepared Italian does not want to force, taking into account that this Tuesday Manchester City awaits in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.
David Alaba would also have options to enter an eleven in which Militao and Rüdiger point to starters, with Carvajal and Camavinga on the sides. Without the ’10’, Ceballos would be the most logical replacement, accompanying Kroos and Valverde in the midfield. While a more prominent Rodrygo will accompany the Benzema-Vinicius duo, authors of 7 goals in the Cup, with the Frenchman just one goal behind Kike García from Osasuna, top scorer of the tournament with five goals.
The Basque coach will have to adapt his system due to the loss of Nacho Vidal on the right side, with the ‘multipurpose’ Moncayola prepared to occupy a position that is already familiar to him. Arrasate would trust his ‘type team’, with Aridane and David García in the backbone, with Juan Cruz on the left. The Torro-Gómez-Oroz trinomial will try to take the initiative and control, while Rubén García, Abde and Kike García will have offensive responsibility for their team.
DATA SHEET.
–POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS:
REAL MADRID: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Camavinga; Ceballos, Kroos, Valverde; Rodrygo, Benzema and Vinicius.
OSASUNA: Herrera; Moncayola, Aridane, David Garcia, Cruz; Torro, Oroz, Moi Gomez; Ruben Garcia, Kike Garcia and Abde.
–REFEREE: Sánchez Martínez (C. Murciano).
–STADIUM: La Cartuja.
–TIME: 10:00 p.m. / 1 and Let’s go.