Five years ago, on November 25, 2020, the day Maradona died, Madrid played their fifth match of the Champions group stage in Milan against Inter. The same day, Florentino and Antonio Pintus met for coffee at the Sheraton Milan San Siro hotel, … and there they closed the return of the Italian (who had already been in Madrid between 2016 and 2019) for the summer of 2021. Whoever the coach was, who ultimately ended up being Ancelotti, the president understood that Madrid must have in his staff whom he considers the best physical trainer in the world. And he’s still thinking about it, which is why it’s shocking that Florentino didn’t act the same way after Carletto’s goodbye and Xabi’s arrival.
Alonso landed in Madrid with the staff with whom he triumphed at Leverkusen, including Ismael Camenforte. Camenforte arrived at Bayer a year before Alonso, passing through the under-17 team then the under-19 team before finally being promoted to first team fitness trainer. It was there that he began his journey alongside Xabi who considers him a key and indispensable part of his coaching team. Thus, Madrid, unlike what happened with Ancelotti, did not impose Pintus as head of the physical area, although they would have liked to do so. And Pintus, who was coming off a difficult year with Ancelotti’s team, as ABC reported last June, stepped aside so as not to condition Alonso’s job, resigned from an attractive offer from Juventus and accepted an “office” position that Madrid classified as “performance director.”
In the end, all parties did what they had to do. We couldn’t start a project as disruptive as Xabi’s with uncomfortable and forced situations that duplicated functions and hierarchies. Even if the club has on its pedestal Pintus, the only physical trainer to have won five European Cups (one with Juventus, in 1997, and four with Madrid: 2017, 2018, 2022 and 2024) and the physical trainer responsible for two of the only four centenary doubles in the club’s history. The League and Champions of 2017 and 2022.
“Pintus decided to be invisible so as not to disturb Alonso,” a person from Madrid management told the newspaper. In this new role of “performance manager”, the Italian’s daily life at Valdebebas is focused on maximizing the performances, productivity and returns of career players and teams who want to rely on his knowledge and methodology, but in the case of the first team, so far, Xabi has been consistent with his idea and at no time has asked Pintus for help.
“Pintus is wasted in his new role,” lament people at the club close to the first team.
Those involved in Valdebebas’ daily life claim the Italian is completely estranged from the first team, both staff and players. He does not speak with them and does not appear in the gym or on the training ground, with the aim of avoiding situations that could generate misunderstandings. And those who know Pintus well consider him a club man, very loyal to Florentino and available to the president for whatever he asks. Whether he likes it more or less: “He is wasted in his new role,” lament some people close to the first team.
This season, Madrid have had as many as eleven players injured at the same time, which has never happened in the club’s history, and it is an issue that worries the top team a lot. Xabi’s project presents a huge hole on a physical level, and not just because of the high number of muscular and traumatic setbacks, but because of the physical moment the team is experiencing.
Aside from the high number of casualties, healthy players lack vigor and exuberance. It’s not just that the team stopped pressing high because the players suggested to Xabi that it wasn’t his style, but also that his legs aren’t enough to do it either, even if they wanted to. They are not prepared as they should be to physically overpower their rivals.
A problem, that of injuries, that the club knows very well and knows that it will be very difficult to resolve in the middle of the season. With matches every three days, there is no qualified physical trainer to turn around such a delicate situation. Pre-season is the right time to plant the seeds and since the ball starts rolling and competition devours the daily lives of teams with such a busy schedule, like Real Madrid, there is no quality time to physically prepare a team. This is summer work and anything that hasn’t been done by then can no longer be done during the season.
So if in the coming days, or weeks, Florentino decides to do without Alonso and imposes the return of Pintus on his replacement, it would not be easy for the Italian, but this is precisely one of the reasons why the president kept Antonio at the club. It’s often said that the pig puts the donkey where the owner wants it, and that’s exactly what Madrid did with Pintus. Keep him on the payroll, even if it’s in roles where he can’t get the most out of himself. Sooner or later he wants him to return to the first team.
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