Real Madrid wants to and can’t, for Joaquín Luna

Real Madrid enjoys a supernatural prestige in Europe, according to which it always can when it wants, and wants when circumstances demand it. Last night, at Anfield, the theory fell apart and the current champion was defeated against a Liverpool team that had a string of fiascos against the whites and won due to desire, football and an intensity without ups and downs. Great football match, the record shows, living up to the fame of Liverpool-Real Madrid as the European classic.

History invites us to be cautious with Real Madrid and to distrust appearances. Speaking of appearances: three finals await them and they still have some chances of qualifying among the top eight, which would make this 2-0 anecdote. The new format of the Champions League continues to be disconcerting, a ceremony of confusion because everything, with three days left, is up in the air and it is difficult to make calculations about the possibilities of each team.

Mbappé is a soul in pain, the injuries are many, but there is something else: this Real Madrid is resting on its laurels

Naturally, the temptation to point the finger at Mbappé is great. Real Madrid has waited for him for a few years and one night: yesterday. Everything seemed conducive for him to settle the doubts and become the glory of the Iberian Peninsula, playing as he played in his favorite area due to Vinicius’ injury. They are defeats conducive to accusing those who were there and praising those who were absent. And Mbappé was a soul in pain, fighting with the world, failing in his passes and thick in the area from whose penalty spot he launched the maximum penalty with more fear than Cagancho, gypsy bullfighter and artist of legendary scares.

Injuries, numerous, are always a very handy resource for these situations. And Real Madrid has them, but if something seemed to give them hegemony in Spain, it was precisely the bench. With the addition that without having the Masia, Valdebebas is not a wasteland either, as Asencio, a central defender with a future, demonstrated. What’s wrong with Real Madrid? Among other things, he does not seem hungry for victories. It would seem that he has rested on his laurels and is a victim of the syndrome of the intelligent student who always puts off his elbows until the last moment, convinced that it will be enough for him. There are many injured, yes, but also many figures who, Mbappé aside, are not doing well, either due to physical decline (Modric), or due to misplacement (Bellingham or, at times, Fede Valverde, full-back last night). Except Courtois, the only figure who delivered at Anfield.

Liverpool played an impeccable game from the first to the last minute. Aim very high in Europe, where the corny will say that football owes them one, thinking about the two finals against Madrid. Of course we are in November, that month when you don’t know whether to leave the house with a coat or a cardigan.

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