Tchouameni, Ancelotti's last seducer: extra hours with Davide and virtual reality

Carlo Ancelotti confided his pre-match speech to Aurélien Tchouameni for the first time on January 10 in Riyadh. Minutes before the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup against Atlético de Madrid, the Frenchman grabbed a plastic bottle with an orange liquid and addressed his teammates in Spanish in the locker room of the Al Nassr stadium: “We know it's a game very important for us, for the fans. We have to give everything and fight until the end to win this title, with commitment. And in the end we are going to win because Real Madrid is here. Good game everyone, and I don't know what else I can say… Let's go! “, he is seen saying in a documentary prepared by the club.

Before Ancelotti's return, the one who harangued was almost always Sergio Ramos. The Italian introduced a rotating system: he chooses a speaker for each match. However, Tchouameni had already played 67 times in a Madrid shirt before making his debut in Saudi Arabia. The last two before that semi-final he had done as a center back, a mission that he would prefer to avoid. Before the Christmas break he came on when Nacho was sent off in Mendizorroza and on January 3, against Mallorca at the Bernabéu, he occupied the captain's place from the beginning, sanctioned by the red card. In that position he will also appear this afternoon when Madrid hosts the second-placed team in the League, Girona, just two points behind (18.30, Dazn).

The emergency rules: Militão and Alaba are still out due to torn ligaments and Nacho suffers from overload. Despite the fact that the two knee injuries put the squad to the limit, which was left with only two centre-backs, Ancelotti knew immediately that the winter market would not bring him another. After the game against Alavés, he sent Tchouameni some affection in public: “He will be angry, but he is a spectacular center back. He plays very well, he takes the ball from behind like few others and tactically he is very good.”

It wasn't just that he needed him even more than before, but he sees that the Frenchman is fitting better into his work ecosystem. The adjustment last year, the Frenchman's first in Madrid, was not the smoothest despite his good start to the season. The Italian detected room for improvement in the midfielder, who did not appear to be the most ductile, according to sources familiar with the analysis of the coaching staff. It bothered him, for example, that they used Casemiro as an example to explain to him what they expected of him in some situations. They also saw that he needed to fine-tune how he turned when he received the ball with his back turned. This was added to his drop in performance after the World Cup and that trip to an NBA game in Paris for which he ended up apologizing: “I apologize to my club, the coaching staff, my teammates and the Madrid fans for my presence.” in an event at a time when we had a lot at stake in the Cup,” he wrote on his networks.

There began a turn that has concluded this course. “He understood where he was and what his responsibilities were,” say sources close to the coaching staff. It is not unusual to see Tchouameni working with Davide Ancelotti after some training sessions, particularly in changes of orientation when receiving the ball, something about which he has also been seen talking with the coach at the end of a session, while the rest of The companions retired to the shower.

The Frenchman did not stop there. Months ago he began working with virtual reality glasses that simulate game situations: “I see improvements on the field and in training. You can change the intensity and play at a higher intensity than in the game, faster, and then on the field it is easier. “It helps me with vision and decision-making under pressure from the rival,” he said in an interview in EL PAÍS.

The gadget also served him well when Ancelotti announced that he would use him for the first time as a center back in October, against Osasuna. In addition to training, he used virtual reality to get used to the position.

The glasses helped him even when he was injured three months later, at a time when he was playing at a very good level. Although he was gone six weeks, he did not despair, according to sources close to him. He thought that the type of ailment, a stress fracture in his foot, indicated that he needed to rest, and he proposed to take advantage of the opportunity in a long season, with the Euro Cup at the end. Virtual reality helped him maintain mental alertness. In the second game after recovery, Ancelotti already used him as a center back in Vitoria, where he praised his qualities on the way to the Super Cup, in whose final he played “his best game”, according to the Italian.

This afternoon he will be placed in the center of the defense again, under the tutelage of Rüdiger, who seems to have recovered from his strong blow in Getafe: “In the pair, the more expert player manages the situations a little. When Rüdiger and Tchouameni play, Rüdiger gives a lot of advice to Tchouameni,” the Italian coach explained yesterday.

Opposite him will be Girona, the team against which he scored his first goal with a header for Madrid, in the Catalans' only defeat in this League. “Finally!” he let out in October in the interview with EL PAÍS when the goal was mentioned. “I was waiting for it. Even my teammates had been waiting for this goal for a long time, so when I scored it was like 'finally.' Two weeks ago he scored the second: he headed another corner and gave Madrid the victory in Las Palmas in the 84th minute.

His weight on the team has increased significantly this season. The extra hours with Davide and the commitment to exercising with virtual reality do not only respond to the responsibility that may arise from the 80 million that Madrid paid for him: “No one can have higher expectations than me. I set the tone, I set the bar. For me it is important to be great, whatever I do.”

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