Real Madrid is still perfect at the start of the 2022/23 Spanish League season. Six matches, El Real lead the standings with 18 full points.
Most recently, Monday (9/19/2022), Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in a hot duel El Derbi Madrileno at the Wanda Metropolitano. Carlo Ancelotti's squad wrapped up a 2-1 win.
Madrid went two goals ahead through the action of Rodrygo (18') and Federico Valverde (36'). Atletico only responded in the second half through Mario Hermoso (83').
Interestingly, Rodrygo and Valverde's goals proved that Madrid have quite a number of goalscorers this season, not just relying on one player.
Both are good!
Benzema has been out of action for the past few weeks. However, despite losing the main goalscorer, Madrid still have players like Valverde, Rodrygo and Vinicius to rely on.
This time Ancelotti praised the contribution of Valverde and Rodrygo directly. Both players have special abilities in front of goal.
"They are both very special players, because they are the ideal portrait of a modern footballer," said Ancelotti.
"Valverde has to play in several different positions, has to be physically tough, has to be very technical. They both have shown significant progress and we are very satisfied."
Replaces Benzema
Whether it's Valverde, Rodrygo or Vinicius, it's clear that Madrid managed to handle Benzema's absence very well. Matters of scoring goals are not a problem even though the main goal machine is absent.
"I think we have replaced Karim well. We have played well, every player who has played in that position [forward] has performed well," continued Ancelotti.
"What stands out from this situation is that our squad is very competitive in the absence of Karim, the most important player in our team."
Very satisfied
That is, Ancelotti admits that the absence of Benzema is indeed difficult, but at least the players have responded to the situation very well.
"There are some things that can be improved, that's normal, but the fact is I can't ask for more from our team. We've won all the games so far."