Isco had urgent surgery on the 25th of September for appendicitis. It was right after Spain thrashed (6-0) Croatia in the UEFA Nations League. The Andalucian player couldn’t play any other game and Julen Lopetegui is missing him. In these four games without the former Málaga player, Los Blancos haven’t scored a single goal, losing three games and drawing one.
Isco Alarcón is now back to work. On Monday he trained for the very first time with his team mates and he looked fit. He couldn’t finish the session without any problem and with the same level, so we can expect him to start on Saturday against Levante. It shouldn’t be a difficult game, but Lopetegui is risking his job if Los Blancos fail to win the Valencia team. Besides, Levante was able to get a point last season at Santiago Bernabéu stadium and they also get a draw against Real Madrid in their stadium, Ciudad de Valencia.
When Lopetegui arrived to Madrid, Isco was supposed to be the centre of his project. When the midfielder wasn’t a key piece for Zinedine Zidane, Lopetegui trusted him in the national team, leading Spain to the World Cup with great performance -especially brilliant against Italy-. For this reason, we all thought that Isco was going to have his best minutes with Lopetegui.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but Real Madrid crisis started with his absence. The first game he missed was against Sevilla and this clash finished 3-0. Then Los Blancos failed to beat Atlético Madrid (0-0) and lost in Moscow (1-0) and Vitoria (1-0). Overall, Los Blancos have failed to scored in the last 409, since Asensio found the net against Espanyol (1-0) on the 22nd of September.
Julen Lopetegui has now two easy tests before heading to Barcelona. Los Blancos should beat Levante and Viktoria Plzen at home, otherwise Lopetegui will be at risk. Then, El Clásico will decide his future, as it decided Rafael Benítez fate when Los Blancos were thrashed at home (0-3) by their rival. A similar result will end up with the manager sacked. Isco can avoid all this suffering.
