For years, the world’s greatest secret was Coca-Cola’s formula. A recipe kept under lock and key, known only to a few. Real Madrid, after their momentous victory against Villarreal, discovered just the opposite: they do not need any secret to be recognisable again. Sometimes, the simplest things are the most effective. Defend, run and score. Or in other words, the ABC of football.
Maybe now everything is falling into place
“I can’t go against the nature of the players. On the contrary, I have to take advantage of it,” said Alvaro Arbeloa after the victory… and after a conversation in Valdebebas with the group to reach an understanding. “We have many dominant players in space and fast, who also usually decide well. When we can run, we will do it. It is our nature and that is where we make the difference.” It has taken just 12 days in charge of a broken dressing room to restore the team’s pulse. Only God needed less time (six days) to create everything. And on the seventh day he rested.
The foolproof recipe
Real Madrid has gone back to its old ways. Defensive solidity, quick transitions and individual talent. A recipe as old as it is effective, the same one that has taken the club to the top time and time again. Without magic formulas or experiments, far from the rock & roll promised by Xabi Alonso(perhaps time would have proved him right), the team recovered the medium-low block without the ball, the changes of orientation to enhance the one-on-one and, above all, the energy needed to compete. Nothing new. Nothing sophisticated. But it is recognisable.
In this context, the return of Arda Güler and Mastantuono to the starting eleven has been key. Their mobility, physical prowess and that touch of cheekiness is contagious. “Every coach has his own way of working, but now maybe everything is fitting together better. We have to keep pushing to have joy at the end of the season,” explained Courtois.
The white team, at least for now, has closed the wound that threatened to open a deep crisis. In just a week and a half, Madrid has gone from doubt to sleep at the top of LaLiga, waiting for the Barcelona-Oviedo match on Sunday. Among other things, because it has recovered something as basic as intensity. It presses after losing, competes in every duel and comes out with determination when it has space. And in this scenario, Madrid feels comfortable. It enjoys itself. It runs. And it smiles again.
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