Real Madrid sink in the Champions League
Nobody is going to kick Zidane out of Real Madrid. That is a reflection that goes beyond anything that can be said about what happened in Kiev. The defeat (2-0) against Shakhtar was the perfect picture of what has been dragging the team since the times of Lopetegui. Maybe before. Everything concealed by flashes of victories, titles and a few goals. We can remember Cristiano. His departure. The huge space he left behind, which was not covered by any of the players who were going to play football as they had never done before.
The conspiracy to win the last League was the exception that confirms the rule that something is wrong with the White House of world football. The project is good. The young people are talented. There is a good stone on which to polish the future champions. But the transition has no helmsman. The ship is sinking while the works at the Bernabeu are still going on... to their end.
Real Madrid suffers in their own way. When mediocrity took the stage and the bench with Ramon Calderón and Schuster, respectively, they were even able to lift a League that Capello had already prepared for them. In July they were able to win another one. Unpopular opinion: the football style of the team that dominated Europe a few years ago will not go down in history. But they knew how to compete. They knew how to win. There is nothing left of it.
The football missing from Real Madrid was replaced by quality, great players and commitment. With Cristiano Ronaldo and the demanding attitude that he provoked in his teammates. Today, chalkboard that players detest so much is missing. The one that knocked off Benítez and Lopetegui. The one that stopped the arrival of Conte or, who knows, even Mourinho's. The heavyweights who have given so much to Real Madrid cannot wait to make way. Contracts are long and salaries are high. Zidane should be thankful. Marcelo and Isco are two examples. Ramos moves on the field with excessive ease, and that sould not be allowed. The countdown to his renewal has begun. If he signs, it will be in spite of Florentino Pérez, who knows that he cannot let go. If he leaves, he may be unblocking the possibility for the team to start a new phase. Thank you for everything.
Going back to the Champions. Real Madrid depend on beating Mönchengladbach in Valdebebas to reach the last round of 16. They might even be first in the group after all. They could also finish last and avoid dragging their name through the Europa League. Anything less than winning that competition would be a catastrophe on a par with being beaten in Rome or Liverpool in a Champions League play-off. Biblical.
The alignment is irrelevant. Whether there is a nine or a fake forward. If Ramos is missing or Benzema is needed. Valverde or Casemiro. Vinicius and Rodrygo. It doesn't matter if Asensio is not the star. The players will undoubtedly take the match against the Germans at Di Stéfano. The wire on which Real Madrid are moving is getting thinner, but it still holds the team together. Another shovelful of poor football so that the root of the problem is not seen.
Barça is facing both an institutional and an economic crisis. In the sporting field, the inertia of what they were and Messi make everything not to fall apart. Florentino Pérez's road map is not in doubt at Real Madrid. There is no audience to embarrass the managers and put the players in their place. Neither is there a regular football on the horizon to which to entrust the season. Whatever the players want shall happen. And it will happen without Zidane daring to face with the French revolution inside the dressing room. The next on the list, Raúl, comes all dressed up in "Madridismo".