Against demanding rivals and on important nights, Real Madrid cannot hope to win games with Mbappé, Vinicius, Rodrygo and Bellingham up front. It just doesn’t work. It’s not enough, it’s not realistic. I also don’t think you have to be a fine strategist or a wizard of advanced statistics to realize all this. It’s like that old story about the blanket that falls short at the bottom when you try to raise it to your chin. The team splits in half. There is a lack of balance, order and football in the middle of the field to then be able to feed those players swarming higher up. Because if you want to take advantage of Barça’s advanced defense, a tactic that other teams with much fewer resources than Real Madrid have successfully carried out, this cannot be achieved just by putting fast players in the opposite field. That comes from winning the battle in the middle of the field. And it was not like that in Arabia. Valverde and Camavinga looked like the plumbers of the Titanic, bailing water with buckets from here to there, completely outnumbered by their rivals. The game was lost there. Again. Once again. No team has competed worse this season against Barça than this Real Madrid. Worrying symptom. Because losing the Super Cup is something that can happen, a defeat that could fit into the script of the most demanding fan. But for Barça to score, once again, four goals in a single half does seem like a structural failure that deserves an in-depth analysis. It is a recurring problem for which no solution can be found. The botched white defense, that line patched with Tchouaméni acting as chewing gum so the pipes wouldn’t drip, caused leaks everywhere. It is not competitive to support a team with a schedule as demanding as Real Madrid’s throughout the year, especially when the barbarians later arrive at the doors, that is, the Leao, the Raphinha, the Salah. And that is precisely what has been happening this year in the big events. But that is not Tchouaméni’s fault either (although it is always pointed out). It was reckless for the club to show up this season with only two operational centre-backs (and one of them, Militao, has just recovered from a major injury). And this must be repeated. Not even with one more player on the pitch could Real Madrid offer a minimally acceptable game. It was a mess, in short. A super paper. Madrid seemed like a broken team, ridiculed and resigned in Arabia. He played an unworthy final, surpassed in all aspects. When Bilardo left with the Argentine team to play in the ’86 World Cup, he told his team: “Guys, put a suit and a sheet in your suitcase. The suit is in case we win the World Cup. The blanket is in case they eliminate us in the first round and we have to go live in Arabia, because we won’t be able to here. Some Madrid players played in a final enough to stay at least a couple more weeks in Arabia with the sheet on.
#Javier #Aznar #Superpapelón
