Granada provide first test of ten in a row for Real Madrid

In the ‘Liga of the Clave Ardiendo’ (‘Liga of the Clutched Straws’, when Barça’s five-point advantage was eaten away in the last ten games of the season), Madrid relied more on their faith than their chances. Nine years later, on the same latitude and four points behind Barça, Madrid rely more on their chances than their faith. The difference is substantial. More than the courage and the story, it appeals to the numbers. The same team that won 22 matches in a row earlier this season must string together ten consecutive wins to close the championship. The calculation which has established Real Madrid’s aspiration to win the title also includes gifts from Barcelona in the pack of dreams.

It is not easy, but not unreasonable. In football, life changes inside a week and we are coming back from a thirteen-day break which is comparable to an eternity. To avoid offending Granada, we will not speak of the FIFA Virus. We will only mention the fragility of the moods. It will be better understood if Madrid win on Sunday and Barcelona do not manage to do the same later on in the day at Celta. Then the faith will be stronger than the probability.

Real Madrid can add the return of James Rodríguez, who is back after two months out injured, to their list of reasons to be optimistic. The expectation is that the Colombian’s effect on Real Madrid’s play will be as revitalising as Luka Modric’s was after the Croatian came back last month. The hope is that, with both in the side, the lost joy, the happy voracity and the fresh air will return to the side.

Granada’s concerns are not minor either. They are three points adrift of safety and there are some who say that Abel Resino’s team are more focused on Celta Vigo and Almería, their next two opponents after Madrid, than they are on their duel with the European champions. That might be, but nothing stimulates a substitute as much as re-asserting oneself at the Bernabéu.

With Pepe injured and Dani Carvajal rested, Álvaro Arbeloa and Raphaël Varane will be the other alterations for a Madrid side which wants to see Gareth Bale, who is still imbued with the scent of Wales, and Cristiano Ronaldo, who has spent almost two weeks imagining goals. In front of them they will have an opponent who is wary of its fate at the whims of football and the peculiarity of Easter Sunday. Stranger things have happened.

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