The Misery at Madrid
When Zinedine Zidane resigned from his post as the manager of Real Madrid, it was categorised as one of the now conventional "mike drop" moments. Zidane had achieved more than anybody could have ever imagined in two and a half years with Los Blancos. After replacing the rather unfortunate Rafa Benitez in January of 2016, Zidane went on to win 9 trophies with the team he once played for, as a Galactico, including three consecutive Champions League titles, an historic and unprecedented feat. After his latest Champions League triumph, he resigned, five days later, a move which apparently even surprised the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez.
That move in itself was an end of an era. Zidane had taken Madrid to the top of the Everest, metaphorically speaking. No manager, no matter how good, was going to find that a repeat act was near impossible. Real Madrid had peaked with Zidane. However, there was still a chance of maintaining his legacy. But then, Cristiano Ronaldo decided to leave as well.
Ronaldo is one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football field. He was the talisman of Real Madrid, one of the two best players in the world, the guy who guaranteed that sprinkling of stardust which had always been Real Madrid's USP. He guaranteed headlines, he guaranteed publicity, and most importantly, he guaranteed goals and assurance on the field. Ronaldo scored 450 goals in 438 games, more than a goal a game, and had 119 assists, during his nine years with Los Merengues. An incredible return, made more incredible by the fact that he scored more than 40 goals in eight of his nine seasons with Real. So when his frayed relationship with the board became untenable, he decided to move to Juventus, for £88.3 million, at the ripe old age of 33, a testament to the athlete that Ronaldo is.
So when two of the best things to have happened to Real in the last decade decided to leave the club, it was seen as the perfect time for a rebuild. A month before Ronaldo's departure, the club hired Julen Lopetegui as the manager.
This move was so wrong on so many levels. Lopetegui was the Spain national team manager, preparing his team for a World Cup many thought was well within Spain's grasp. Lopetegui had, to his credit, done a commendable job with the national team, gelling in youngsters, and qualifying for the World Cup while being unbeaten in the qualifying stages. Three days prior to his first match, he was sacked as the manager of Spain, with the Spanish federation citing that the Real Madrid appointment had happened without any notice whatsoever.
This was not an auspicious start. Then came the hammer blow. Ronaldo left the club. One of the apparent reasons Zidane left the club was because of his unwillingness to turn over a squad he believed was declining. Lopetegui faced the same situation, sans Ronaldo. It was a horrible situation to find himself in. He had lost at least 50 goals for the season, there was no obvious candidate to replace Ronaldo's output, and he had a squad which needed some heavy polishing, not to mention dealing with the egos that come inherent with a club of Real Madrid's stature.
Eden Hazard was the guy the club went in for, heavily, fervently, and quite optimistically. This was a guy who had, at certain points during his World Cup sojourn, looked unplayable. So it was quite obvious that Chelsea would demand an arm and a leg, and then some, to let him go. But he was pursued. They weren't helped by the fact that Hazard did not agitate for his move. He was content at Stamford Bridge, and he had made it clear that while playing Real Madrid was a dream, he would not go against his present club. Madrid struck a wall. They pursued other targets, namely Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, both of Paris Saint Germain. Making a dog learn Mandarin would perhaps be an easier proposition than getting those two out of France, at the very least for this season. PSG had bought them for record amounts of money for a purpose. They were never going to get rid of them so easily.
Thus, what did Real do? They signed former canterano, Mariano Diaz from Olympique Lyonnais, for £33 million. To amp up the pressure, they gave him the no.7 jersey, Ronaldo's number during his time. Now, Mariano had a good season with Lyon. He scored 18 goals in the league, in 34 games. But according to understat, he overperformed, with average goals stating that he should have scored 13 goals, not 18.
So to add to this rather, with all due respect to Mariano, underwhelming signing, Real Madrid also brought in Thibaut Courtois, for £35 million, a rather unnecessary signing with Keylor Navas still at the club, and signed young Spanish right back Alvaro Odriozola from Real Sociedad, for another £35 million. Luka Modric, for all his World Cup exploits, was an age older, with the likes of Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema all getting well into their 30s.
Gareth Bale, handed the responsibility of shouldering a Ronaldo-less attack, could not do so. Benzema, who began the season in red hot form, dwindled away. The final nail in Lopetegui's coffin, was the damning 5-1 defeat against Barcelona, in El Clasico. He was sacked, ending a terrible year for the Spaniard, in which he was sacked twice, not given a chance to participate in a World Cup, and was handed the reins of one of the biggest clubs in the world, without the player that had defined the same club for the last nine years. All that, despite the fact that he was not a bad coach. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, handed a poisoned chalice that he could not say no to.
Santiago Solari has taken over, from the Castilla side, but it is hard to imagine that he will be there come the start of the next season. A rebuilding is in the offing, with the club having been linked with Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Massimiliano Allegri. But perhaps a rogue shout out may be given to Leonardo Jardim, whose job at Monaco was built on the basis of rebuilding, season after season.
Zidane, in many ways, made the hot seat at Santiago Bernabeu a throne of thorns. It remains to see who is willing to step up, to get the best out of this uber talented squad. But it is a misery till then.
That move in itself was an end of an era. Zidane had taken Madrid to the top of the Everest, metaphorically speaking. No manager, no matter how good, was going to find that a repeat act was near impossible. Real Madrid had peaked with Zidane. However, there was still a chance of maintaining his legacy. But then, Cristiano Ronaldo decided to leave as well.
Ronaldo is one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football field. He was the talisman of Real Madrid, one of the two best players in the world, the guy who guaranteed that sprinkling of stardust which had always been Real Madrid's USP. He guaranteed headlines, he guaranteed publicity, and most importantly, he guaranteed goals and assurance on the field. Ronaldo scored 450 goals in 438 games, more than a goal a game, and had 119 assists, during his nine years with Los Merengues. An incredible return, made more incredible by the fact that he scored more than 40 goals in eight of his nine seasons with Real. So when his frayed relationship with the board became untenable, he decided to move to Juventus, for £88.3 million, at the ripe old age of 33, a testament to the athlete that Ronaldo is.
So when two of the best things to have happened to Real in the last decade decided to leave the club, it was seen as the perfect time for a rebuild. A month before Ronaldo's departure, the club hired Julen Lopetegui as the manager.
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| Ronaldo at Juventus |
This was not an auspicious start. Then came the hammer blow. Ronaldo left the club. One of the apparent reasons Zidane left the club was because of his unwillingness to turn over a squad he believed was declining. Lopetegui faced the same situation, sans Ronaldo. It was a horrible situation to find himself in. He had lost at least 50 goals for the season, there was no obvious candidate to replace Ronaldo's output, and he had a squad which needed some heavy polishing, not to mention dealing with the egos that come inherent with a club of Real Madrid's stature.
Eden Hazard was the guy the club went in for, heavily, fervently, and quite optimistically. This was a guy who had, at certain points during his World Cup sojourn, looked unplayable. So it was quite obvious that Chelsea would demand an arm and a leg, and then some, to let him go. But he was pursued. They weren't helped by the fact that Hazard did not agitate for his move. He was content at Stamford Bridge, and he had made it clear that while playing Real Madrid was a dream, he would not go against his present club. Madrid struck a wall. They pursued other targets, namely Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, both of Paris Saint Germain. Making a dog learn Mandarin would perhaps be an easier proposition than getting those two out of France, at the very least for this season. PSG had bought them for record amounts of money for a purpose. They were never going to get rid of them so easily.
Thus, what did Real do? They signed former canterano, Mariano Diaz from Olympique Lyonnais, for £33 million. To amp up the pressure, they gave him the no.7 jersey, Ronaldo's number during his time. Now, Mariano had a good season with Lyon. He scored 18 goals in the league, in 34 games. But according to understat, he overperformed, with average goals stating that he should have scored 13 goals, not 18.
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| Lopetegui |
Gareth Bale, handed the responsibility of shouldering a Ronaldo-less attack, could not do so. Benzema, who began the season in red hot form, dwindled away. The final nail in Lopetegui's coffin, was the damning 5-1 defeat against Barcelona, in El Clasico. He was sacked, ending a terrible year for the Spaniard, in which he was sacked twice, not given a chance to participate in a World Cup, and was handed the reins of one of the biggest clubs in the world, without the player that had defined the same club for the last nine years. All that, despite the fact that he was not a bad coach. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, handed a poisoned chalice that he could not say no to.
Santiago Solari has taken over, from the Castilla side, but it is hard to imagine that he will be there come the start of the next season. A rebuilding is in the offing, with the club having been linked with Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Massimiliano Allegri. But perhaps a rogue shout out may be given to Leonardo Jardim, whose job at Monaco was built on the basis of rebuilding, season after season.
Zidane, in many ways, made the hot seat at Santiago Bernabeu a throne of thorns. It remains to see who is willing to step up, to get the best out of this uber talented squad. But it is a misery till then.
Hi Abhinav
ReplyDeleteVery well written....I am impressed with your in depth knowledge....Keep it up👌
thank you!
ReplyDelete