Madrid and the avocado pit, by Xavier Aldekoa

Having children is the opportunity to experience things again and doubt the correct answers. The other day, my daughters, Lena and Aina, and two friends, Aran and Axel, were debating while picking blackberries which superpower they would choose if they could make a wish. The elders deliberated on whether it was better to be able to fly, lightning fast, have hyper strength or be able to talk to animals. Axel, the youngest of the group, 4 years old, responded without thinking too much: “I would choose to be able to eat the pit of an avocado.” Upon returning home, and since we had opened the season for questions, Lena asked me a point-blank question. “Dad, why don’t you like Madrid?”

I took a deep breath as if I were facing the most important exam of my life. I told him that I don’t like their arrogance and that they think they are smarter than others. Last week, I gave as an example, the whites announced timely injuries to key players like Mbappé or Vinícius so that they would not go with their national teams and could rest against the upcoming Dragon Khan of matches. Result: Barça, who sent their team without excuses, face this day with Lamine Yamal and Lewandowski affected.

I don’t like the arrogance of the Madrid team and that they think they are smarter than the others

I added some nuance to my answer so that Lena wouldn’t think that her father is a hopeless fanatic and I stressed that Madrid’s winning mentality is admirable, but I pointed out that their obsession with victory as an identity bothers me. “How can I not love you, if you have made me European champion for the 15th time,” its stands sing, as if love could only be a consequence of success. I bet everything on my final argument. If there is something that provokes anger in Madrid’s rivals, I told him, it is the Aznarian phrase that the PP spokesperson in Congress, Miguel Tellado, recovered on Thursday in the Losantos program: “Whoever can do something, let him do it.” . Tellado was referring to ousting Pedro Sánchez from power and even admitted “judicial means” as valid, but the phrase applies to the power team. With a centralized League, with its institutions and establishments in the capital and often commanded by Real Madrid fans, it is easy for the toast to fall on the side of the bread. Then, the fact that the most powerful media outlets are Madrid supporters, sometimes with Florentino’s soldiers in the trenches, makes it easier to cover up the grievances. The list is long.

After exposing my incontestable arguments, I turned to Lena ready to be moved by her embrace of culé militancy and ready to see the first shoots of her anti-Madridism emerge.

“Have you understood it? “Ask whatever you want,” I invited him.

She, who was playing with a paper in her fingers, noticed my silence and raised her head. He finally asked.

“And why did Axel want the superpower of eating avocado pits?”