Open Thread: October 23, 2020.

Hola Madridistas!

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack or Oscnar.

Ramos returns to training. Will he, won’t he feature in El Clasico?

The team trained yesterday, beginning preparations for El Clasico. Ramos trained outside on the grass with the ball, but alone. His status is still up in the air. Carvajal, Odriozola, Ødegaard, Hazard and Mariano continue to work inside facilities.

Another interesting thing to remember prior to El Clasico is that Zidane has not never lost in Camp Nou in his five games.

Will Jovic go to jail?

Several news outlets, including Marca and Cope, reported that Jovic could be facing up to six months in jail in Serbia for breaking the quarantine rules in March. According to rumors, Jovic travelled from Madrid to Belgrade to visit his pregnant girlfriend and then breached the home quarantine rules in place in Serbia earlier this year.

What are Zidane’s greatest mistakes at Real Madrid?

Yesterday, Marca outlined what it believes are Zidane’s five grave mistakes at Real Madrid:

1. Team building and poor planning: Real Madrid lost several players but only added Ødegaard and Odriozola, both injured at the moment.
2. Isco vs James Rodriguez: While James is playing well for Everton, Isco is not doing the same for Real Madrid and has been criticized for his performances (However, James is injured and probably will miss Everton’s upcoming game).
3. Blind trust in Marcelo: Marcelo’s defensive mistakes have cost a lot and he doesn’t contribute much offensively anymore.
4. Hakimi and Reguillon’s sales.
5. Zidane has doubt in the players like Jovic, Ødegaard, Vinicius Junior. Jovic for instance has gone from being told he could leave to a starter position in Champions League game. Vinicius Junior is dropped and recalled to the team regularly, while Rodrygo and Ødegaard has not yet convinced Zidane.

Madridistas on loan

Matt reported that Kubo played very well in Villareal 5-3 win over Sivasspor. Kubo scored a goal and got two assists. His first assist:

Brahim Diaz played well too and scored Milan’s second goal in their win over Celtic.