In the first national derby of the season, Real Madrid drew 0-0 away to Barca. Barca, which has home advantage, did not take the initiative in the scene, but the visiting team Real Madrid performed better on the offensive end, and also formed a firepower suppression. After the game, both manager Zidane and captain Ramos lamented the result of the draw.
Real Madrid were able to dominate the field, in large part because of the strength of the midfield. In this game, Zidane discharged the diamond-shaped midfield to maintain control. The coverage of Kroos and Valverde, Casemiro's sweep and Isco's front-line ball interspersed, deprived Barca midfield of possession of the ball and could only use a concise counter-attack to create a threat.
Real Madrid relied on the advantage of midfield to cut off Barca's transport line against Griezmann, Messi and Suarez, thus taking advantage of the situation. After the match, Brazilian Casemiro was voted the best of the game. But in my opinion, the performance of the 21-year-old Valverde is equally remarkable and deserves praise by name.
Compared to big brothers such as Kroos and Casemiro, Valverde has little experience in participating in the national derby and played as a substitute last season. Above the Camp Nou, the Uruguayan teenager was not timid, staring, covering, conducting, breaking, splitting and shooting perfectly. In particular, his few long-range shots put a lot of pressure on Barca goalkeeper Ter Stegen.
Break through the ball on the counter-attack
Long-range shooting
This season, Real Madrid's form has begun to fully recover, which has a lot to do with Zidane's promotion and reuse of Valverde. The youngster is physically energetic and well-rounded, making him a B2B midfielder in modern football. In a heavyweight competition like the National Derby, Zidane would have put Modric on the bench and Valverde to start, which is enough to see the importance Zizou attaches to him.
Coincidentally, Barca also have a young and excellent midfielder, who is Francis De Jong. As the best midfielder in Europe last season, De Jong joined Barca for a high price of 70 million euros. In the eyes of many fans, De Jong is the leader of the next generation of midfielders. But judging from the performance of the national derby, Valverde in the Real Madrid camp did not lose to De Jong at all. Throughout the first half of the game, Valverde's pass success rate reached 100%!
Valverde, 21, and De Jong, 22, both had their first national derby start today. Due to their location, age and camp, they will be compared together for many years to come, which is very "enemy of a lifetime". The development of these two young midfielders also represents the future of Real Madrid and Barca to a certain extent!