After the international break, Real Madrid played a though away match against Elche. The match ended again in a draw. Some well known faces in Elche's squad - the youngsters from La Fábrica Víctor Chust and Álvaro Rodríguez - showed great personality and confidence, and the latter even scored the 2-1 lead for Elche.
More injuries among the Blancos players during the international break, so Xabi Alonso decided to radically change the starting XI, leaving key players like Vinícius, Valverde and Camavinga on the bench. I'm not sure if that paid off: in the first half the team didn't create many occasions, while in the second half, with those three subbed on, the team showed more speed and concreteness. Far from the best Madrid, though.
Matchday 13: Focus on Trent Alexander-Arnold
After two months, Alexander-Arnold was finally back as a starter and played the whole match. In the first half he moved quite a lot on the right wing, switching position with Rodrygo and covering him every time he came inside. He played some excellent through-balls and helped circulate the ball, but also showed some difficulty in the 1v1.
In the second half, Alexander-Arnold was more active and played a key role: he kept taking all the corner kicks for Real and from one of them Huijsen scored the equaliser. Ten minutes later, from his free kick Bellingham managed to level the score again. However, Elche's first goal at minute 53 was also caused by Alexander-Arnold not able to press and stop Aleix Febas.
It was great to see Alexander-Arnold back. All in all he played a good match, although he's clearly not at his best yet.
_____________________________________________________________________
Did you watch the match? Which player impressed you the most? Hit reply and let me know!
See you next Tuesday!
Marta