Madrid started playing again like they were rowing dulce de leche. What happened in Bilbao, as feared, had more to do with scapegoating than true genius. Slow, thick, predictable and boring. That’s how it is. And no other … manner.
The terrible first part was enough to break the spell. At Celta, it seemed like all the younger players of a higher class were playing in the schoolyard rather than at the Bernabéu. They knew what to do and when to do it, and they showed more calm in every situation than the white footballers at home.
You don’t expect to suffer from Stendhal syndrome every time your team takes the field. He is happy to see a competitive and recognizable team with some flashes of good football. And build on that. But at the moment, Madrid is still looking for an identity, a path, a credo. And it’s not hours anymore.
A columnist as funny as Alfonso UssÃa did not deserve to be honored at the Bernabéu with such a leaden game. There was nothing to hold on to. No miracle of those in the shape of flowers that grow in the middle of the sidewalk or on the side of a highway that leads nowhere. This same path that this Real Madrid seems to be taking currently. Only cement and resignation as the only landscape out the window.
Complaining about the arbitration (disruptive and difficult) is an excuse for the poor payer. The fact that Rodrygo hasn’t scored a goal since March is not a plot orchestrated by the refereeing establishment. That Fran GarcÃa committed an act of absurd recklessness is not part of a grand international conspiracy. And the fact that watching Madrid attack is as exciting as watching grass grow is not the federation’s fault.
When Mbappé sneezes, this Madrid catches a cold. Without the Frenchman in legend mode, the team has no arguments, no spark, no imagination, no threat. This moment is missing when something can happen.
Madrid only put heart and intention into it when it saw everything lost. When the only salvation for the vanquished was to expect no salvation. But we are asking this team for something more than a late epic. You need consistency, an idea and a recognizable plan. Because the shield saves many times, but not always. And miracles require some prior faith.
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