“I always felt that the team was very united, and that we were all clear about the goal of the season. If we want to reach May and April, in the important moments, with possibilities for everything, we have to be very connected on a daily basis. The connection is very good. In the good moments we are together. In the difficult times, we are together,” Xabi Alonso continued on Saturday with messages of support for Real Madrid’s dressing room ecosystem after weeks of somewhat tone-deaf turmoil. He said in his appearance ahead of Montilivi’s visit on Sunday to face Girona (9:00pm, Movistar). “Despite all the looks and what they want, we are very strong on the inside.”
The Real Madrid coach insisted on the path followed by many of his players after Wednesday’s victory over Olympiacos in Athens (3-4). Once the match was over, Camavinga drew the same line that he claims separates what happens in the booth from what goes beyond what lies beyond: “It’s the press that speaks. I’m inside, I see everything, and I see the dressing room very united, more united than ever before. We will do everything as always to win and to help the coach,” said a brief exchange with Movistar.
Hours later, Federico Valverde, one of the captains, posted a message on his Instagram account. He repeated the idea in two of his three paragraphs: “After a week in which so many things were said, we are more united than ever,” he said at the beginning. He concluded: “It is not always easy, but the technical staff and players are more united than ever before.”
Messages in the same direction appeared in the past hours, after a few weeks, in which disagreements emerged between some football players and the coach regarding management style and some football methods. The main public episode of tensions was Vinicius’ disdain for his coach when he replaced him in the classic match at the Bernabéu. The result of the scene was also: the Brazilian apologized publicly a few days later with a statement in which he avoided mentioning Xavi, as he did with the president, the fans and his teammates. Vinicius was not the only player concerned about this news.
In that environment, three consecutive negative results accumulated. They lost at Liverpool and drew at Vallecas in Elche, the kind of trend that always ignites any Madrid situation. Victory in Greece was a relief. And not only in sports, as Xavi pointed out after the match: “Since our arrival (in Athens), it has been very positive and productive hours. They have helped us to continue to grow, not to break the dynamic and to learn how to live in difficult moments. The things that we talked about, the unity of the players and their participation, are very positive. I stay with that very much, apart from the three points. They are very positive things that happened inside”.
In this panoramic image, the three points increased against Olympiacos in more areas than sports. Although Xavi gave value to that on Saturday, to regain “the feeling of winning away from home”, after three consecutive defeats. This is also why he looks with interest at Sunday’s match against Girona: “We need a great match, a good victory.” During the trip, he will have Rudiger, Militao and Mastantuno back, and will wait until the morning of the match to see if he will be able to rely on Asensio, who was unable to train on Saturday due to a viral operation.