Madrid close he Australian leg of their pre-season tour with a game in Melbourne against Manchester City. From here through to August 1, the team will have very little training time between games. This is the main reason that Benítez is demanding a more convincing performance from the one we saw against AS Roma. He is anxious to see the results of almost two weeks training and is keen to leave Australia with a decent performance. There is a business element to the results of the field of play and it’s important that team excites.
Yesterday, Benítez only allowed the media 30 minutes access to the training session and as yet there is is still a question mark surrounding the starting eleven but everything points to the BBC starting. It would be unthinkable that Cristiano doesn’t start the game. It would only fan the flames on a fire that the coach has already apparently extinguished. Cristiano responds well to paternal coaching figures such as Ancelotti or Ferguson, rather than the meticulous approach favored by Benítez and this is already apparent. Certain high profile players don’t want to be shackled by rules that hinder their talent or even attack their ego. This is the source of the conflict. Benítez has realized in the space of a week that Cristiano is the best in the world and stated so publicly yesterday. Rectification is something well employed by the intelligent.
The other matter that is still outstanding is that of the goalkeeping position. We can decipher from Benítez’s comments that Keylor Navas will start in goal, but it’s feasible that Casilla gets playing time during the course of the game. Two fine goalkeepers with a huge amount of attention on each. The best man will win the battle. At least until De Gea arrives…
Today’s opponents are Manchester City. They will have no Agüero, Demichelis or Zabaleta but can count on Silva and Yaya Touré. With the Premier League starting earlier, the English side are more advanced in their pre-season activity. On the City bench is Manuel Pellegrini, an old friend from the Santiago Bernabeu.