Ancelotti changes the recipe

A different season calls for a different approach. Holding the World Cup in the middle of the season presents clubs with an unknown challenge. Ancelotti has publicly expressed his concern. “The reasons for the rotations are because we have a very strong squad, we have to keep everyone motivated and there is a World Cup that means we need a fairly long squad and in good condition. The idea is to rotate a little more than last year, also because I have a more complete squad”, said the Italian coach the day before Madrid began its journey in this League. Y he began to apply that recipe from the first day: already in his league debut in Almería he made five changes with respect to the starters he made in the European Super Cup final.

Carletto makes an average of four changes in the starting eleven from one game to another. In total, in eight games he has already introduced 32 variants in his starting team. In all the games he has introduced at least two variants with respect to the previous meeting. Last season, on the other hand, until the team sentenced the League, the average of variations in the eleven from one game to another was less than three changes.

The clash in which Ancelotti has shaken the starting eleven the most was against Mallorca. To beat the vermilion (4-1), he made six changes to his eleven compared to the one that had beaten (0-3) Celtic. Last season he did not move more than half a team from one game to another until the Cup arrived. Two of the changes in that league match against the vermilion were forced by the losses of Militao and Benzema, who were injured in Scotland. In the next game, against Leipzig, he shook up his line-up again, with five variations to win (2-0) against the Germans. The move was not to reverse the changes: against Leipzig there were four new faces in the eleven compared to the first European night in Glasgow.

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A) Yes, Ancelotti has yet to repeat eleven in any of the nine official matches that Madrid have played so far. The eleven type of him, built according to the minutes he has distributed, is the one from the final in Paris, except for the entry of Tchouameni instead of Casemiro: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius. He is the starting eleven against Celtic.

Last season Ancelotti took 13 games to repeat the lineup. He did it in the Classicwhere he lined up the same eleven that had thrashed Shakhtar five days earlier (0-5).