Open Thread: 21 January 2025

The Daily Merengue is a place where you can feel free to d all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name! Shoutout to the mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Kung_Fu_Zizou, Juninho, NeRObutBlanco and yours truly, Felipejack

CDR: Leganes

So, the upcoming game fixtures are:

1. Salzburg (UCL, 22 January)
2. Valladolid (LL, 25 January)
3. Stade Brestois, aka Brest (UCL, 29 January)
4. Espanyol (LL, 1 February)
5. Leganés (CDR, 5 February)
6. Atletico (LL, 8 February – confirmed yesterday)

In case of a possible CDR semifinals, the games (semi-finals have two legs) are set to be played on February 25 and April 2. The final will take place on April 26.

UCL table

In case you are asking, here is the UCL schedule:

• Knockout phase play-offs (aka R32, clubs from 9th to 24th position): 11/12 and 18/19 February
• Round of 16 (clubs from 1st to 8th position): 4/5 and 11/12 March
• Quarter-finals: 8/9 and 15/16 April
• Semi-finals: 29/30 April and 6/7 May
• Final: 31 May

Salzburg

Vazquez is suspended for tomorrow’s game. In addition, Lorenzo Aguardo won’t be in the squad, as the club did not included him in the club A list for UEFA competition.

So, Valverde and Asencio are the options for RB. Opting for Asencio likely means Alaba is starting, as Tchouameni is also a doubt. In other words, likely Valverde will be the right-back. Relevo reported that Ancelotti tried Valverde at RB in yesterday trainning session.

Will Carlo leave at the end of the season?

Today, many Real Madrid accounts have reported the claim from Onda Cero’s Edu Pidal that Ancelotti decided to leave the club at the end of this season. However, it looks like this source isn’t very much reliable – it’s the same the wrongly stated Alaba would be retiring due to ACL injury.

Other sources, including Romano, claimed that Ancelotti has not decided to leave. Brazilian journalist Tatiana Mantovani from TNT Sports, who covers Real Madrid (just discovered that she also comments for Radio Marca), mentioned that no other source has managed to confirm the leaving rumor. She stated yesterday:

Everything that I could explore from this goes along the line that Ancelotti wants to fill his contract with Real Madrid, which goes until June 2026. Tomorrow, there is the press-conference and we would be able to hear directly from him.

It will be interesting to see if Carlo will make his usual confirmation that he wants to stay at Real Madrid “forever” or if he is going to answer similar to when negotiations with Brazil was happening – “I will only talk about my future at the end of the season”.