"Real Madrid: the weight of the invisible"

Opinion article by Jorge Valdano in "El País"

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"Let's widen the perspective. Florentino Pérez tried to intervene, but he changed the wrong wheel by dispensing with Xabi Alonso. The team was left in Álvaro Arbeloa's hands and power in the players' hands. It did not work. The coach lost authority, the players became suspects and the stands grew irritated. A transition aborted from the beginning, with world-class players who gradually lost confidence."

"There are other traits of his management, somewhere between emotional and political, that deserve analysis. He was indulgent with the stars, a gesture they would appreciate at home, but not on the pitch. He served the club by attacking referees and pampering the stars at a cost: complacency does not build authority. His discourse was relaxed, even in the worst moments, always appealing to pride, as if recalling history worked like an energy drink. He lacked the spark Madrid needs more than ever, because the team carries a deficit unworthy of its legend: it lacked soul in many matches."

"The club has a clear authority, that of Florentino Pérez, a symbol of institutional power." "But his influence does not reach the dressing room, orphaned of figures capable of dragging others with the force of their charisma. The last coaches have not been that, weakened by the club itself in a self-destructive dynamic. In elite football perception is decisive, and players quickly distinguish between strong and weak coaches."

"But Madrid are going through a crisis of results (the mother of all crises), fuelled by an unbalanced squad and also by a diffuse identity, with no more substance than history itself. To recover the game, midfielders with judgment are needed. To recover command, perhaps the club will turn to an authoritarian coach, the kind Florentino likes."

"Two months of penance remain. Because playing without qualification incentives is a punishment. But also an opportunity to think. The players no longer have anything to say and Arbeloa seems written off as coach. All victims of results, that absolute dogma. But the stage, in a machine that produces narrative like Real Madrid, cannot remain empty. At this point, only Florentino can occupy it. And with decisions that promote profound change."

Real Madrid: the weight of the invisible https://t.co/x0ukGAjCB4 via @el_pais