Real Madrid's drift in the Champions League
A rare Wednesday afternoon. Barbara's storm passing through Madrid. A Champions League match at 18:55 pm. Without an audience. In Valdebebas. Without Ramos. Against a Shakhtar with eight players out. The defeat against Cadiz. Nothing to go with it. Even less so when Zidane handed over the team to the opponent. Without Benzema and with Marcelo. It was left to wait until the king of Europe felt motivated by the Champions' anthem. It was also to be expected that someone would have warned the players that the history of Real Madrid has to be taken care of. That the debut of the Alfredo di Stéfano stadium in Europe could not go down in history with a defeat and that image.
Real Madrid returns to the cycle of laziness. Of physical shortcomings. Of not knowing what to play. Of an alarming lack of motivation. Zidane's only job in that dressing room is to manage the players' hunger. There is no tactic. There are no videos of the rival. Egos, spirit, will, inertia... his curriculum allows him to train like that. But that system falls without a net when there is nothing to sustain Real Madrid's football. A defined style. A mechanic. A pattern to hold on to when you can't see the opponent's goal.
Ramos is not Cristiano. And Cristiano was the player who kept his teammates at bay. The player who didn't perform at his level had a problem. But if he caught up with them, he didn't lose. The Sevillian defender doesn't have as much pedigree on the field. His claw comes from the defence and it is not the same to talk about goals as it is to talk about conceded goals. From the stands of Di Stéfano's stadium he saw a frayed team. They are given over to lost battles. Jovic has nothing different to Mariano to play as a centre forward. Marcelo sets the automatic pilot to go up the flank, to centre and to combine overhead, but he no longer manages to defend in time. The rest run around and move the ball mechanically from one side to the other. There is no plan.
Madrid will not get any better by Sunday. There will be no miracles. But there will be a Numantine defence to defend the 0-0 at all costs. The same result as the last derby in the Metropolitano, for example. Zidane covers the bad moment of the players with something as prehistoric as defending a lot and well. A draw in the Camp Nou against Barça will be heavenly music for Real Madrid. Better to play the League in the rest of the games than to leave Barcelona with a big win.
Koeman is modelling his Barça. The youngsters engrave their name on every inch of the grass. Pedri, Ansu Fati, Trincao or Dembelé already have a place in the first team and enjoy the last year of Messi in Barça. Griezmann sends signals to Simeone to rescue him. The defense is the black hole of Barça. Umtiti is not recovering from his injury and Lenglet is not infallible. Without Piqué, no one sets the marks and the team suffers. Messi is on his own. He will play and score when and how he wants. No one will ask him to explain. He will move for pure motivation. And the target motivates him.
Atletico de Madrid was no match for Bayern Munich. The European champion swept away the Simeone boys. Even Sevilla stood up to the Bavarian team. Atletico didn't stray too far from their style, but the German physical beasts play something else. Guardiola said years ago that the players of Real Madrid were athletes while his Barça was a team of short players. If the 'tikitaka' didn't work they were lost, but as the passes made sense, they made history. Bayern's games are confronted by defending at the back; putting more rhythm into the game or playing a lot and very well. Simeone stayed in no man's land and took four.
Sevilla has the seal of Lopetegui. It deserves every point it gets, every cup it lifts, every player it gets from. The memory of the mistreatment Rubiales suffered is not forgotten because football is a time that does not come back. The budget and the salary limit have left him without a striker to make a difference. The rhythm they imposed against Chelsea is that of a Premier team. In Spain they no longer play with that intensity and are in danger of suffering an untimely downturn.
The first day of the Champions left empty stadiums and some Ukrainian with public that made us watch TV with nostalgia. It is easier for the fans to return to the stands than for a Spanish team to raise the Champions League.
