We left Aurélien Tchouameni (24 years old) at the King Baudouin stadium, expelled a quarter of an hour from the end of the Nations League clash between Belgium and France (1-2). Promoted to interim captain of the Blues during the last international break, the Real Madrid midfielder was far from having made a strong impression. Returning to the field on Saturday evening against Celta de Vigo, the former Monegasque did not take the opportunity to redo his icing on the occasion of his hundredth in the white jersey.
If the Merengues won 2 goals to 1, A.S. affirmed this Monday that the level of “Tchouameni worries Real Madrid”. To explain its statements, the daily specifies that the Frenchman only scratched 4 balls against Vigo, as many as Camavinga and two less than Valverde having played 30 minutes more than these two. Then, the newspaper published the player’s “heat map” and the latter mostly spread out instead of locking down the axis of the field. Finally, his 7th minute screw-up could have cost his team dearly without the intervention of a great Thibaut Courtois against Swedberg.
Not helped by Ancelotti’s tactics
Purchased in 2022 for €80 million, Tchouameni has raised the same questions for several weeks. At a time when Real Madrid have completely overhauled the midfield that made them famous (Kroos, Modric, Casemiro), the Frenchman is supposed to play the role of a leader. In his defense, A.S. emphasizes, however, that Tchouameni was also not helped on Saturday by the tactical choice of Carlo Ancelotti who entrusted him with a hybrid role of central defender-recovering midfielder depending on the defense or attack phases of his team. At the end of the match, the Italian admitted that he had probably explained his plans poorly. “He played between the two central defenders when we had the ball. This is where we had a balance problem in the first half because, if with the ball there were three of us, without it he had to go forward… and we made mistakes. I didn’t explain well. »
Which does not prevent A.S. to assert that “doubts exist” indeed within the Merengues on the Frenchman, even if the latter is not yet in danger. Carlo Ancelotti maintains his confidence in him, but the criticisms about the overall level of the Madrid midfield are starting to become more and more numerous. Just read the title ofThe Confidential on the analysis of the Madrid environment to realize this. “Ex-Modric highlights Real Madrid with too much brawn and not enough brains”… In the meantime, the bad news is piling up for Tchouameni since El Chiringuito announces that the player had to leave today’s training due to a potential muscle injury on the eve of the Champions League clash against Borussia Dortmund. When it doesn’t want…
