Open Thread: November 9th, 2021

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, YoSnail, Ezek Ix or NeRObutBlanco.

An Inconvenient International Break.

Usually international breaks allow the team to rest, recoup and give injured players additional time to get back, but this latest one comes just when Real Madrid were picking up steam. Since the last break, the team has notched up five wins and a draw from six encounters. Those wins include victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou, as well as two key Champions League triumphs over Shakhtar Donetsk.

A tough schedule awaits Los Blancos after the break as well. First they visit Granada before a trip to Moldova to face Sheriff. Then, two big games in the league against high flyers Real Sociedad and Sevilla. Those matches are followed by the visit of Inter before the Madrid derby against Atletico.

This is some seriously impressive stuff.

The club put out a tweet showcasing the pitch removal and storage system, allowing for multiple events across different sports to be held at the newly renovated stadium. Do check it out.

ICYMI: Vinícius Jr: Breaking Lines, Barriers and Narratives.

In this article Mehedi Hassan Pranggon takes a deeper look into Vini Jr’s rise in 2021-22 from a data-viz perspective. Do give it a read.