This season wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. More precisely: it was not designed for this. At Real Madrid, however, it is possible to win some trophies, even the biggest ones, even from a transitional year that connects eras.
In the summer, Real Madrid was active in the transfer market, acquiring Jude Bellingham, considered the best midfielder of his generation, for 103 million euros – a fairly good price in today’s conditions. Florentino Pérez still considered him a genius, but for the time being, he paid 20 million for Arda Güler, who is raw at the level of Real Madrid, and the value of the deal is further increased by the fact that Barcelona managed to outbid him. Karim Benzema, who was lured to Saudi Arabia, was replaced by only a 33-year-old center who, after his disappointing time in England at Newcastle and Stoke, is considered more infamous than famous. Since Pérez wanted to leave the door open for Mbappé at all costs, Real Madrid preferred to wait, so the 2023/24 squad seemed incomplete, and Carlo Ancelotti had to resort to creative solutions.
During the entire season, the team suffered only two defeats, both times against Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid won the Spanish championship four rounds before the end, which is interesting from another point of view in addition to the circumstances mentioned above: the Spanish championship became the first championship that Ancelotti won twice as a coach.
Vinícius Júnior is Matthijs de Ligt
Since 2011, Real Madrid has missed the semi-finals only twice (2019 and 2020) in the series, won half of the 12 semi-final matches, and the team has won five out of five in the finals. They can win the Champions League for the sixth time in 13 years, which according to the consensus is the most unpredictable, in this sense, the most difficult series to win. However, rules such as the fickleness of luck do not apply to Real Madrid.
– Ancelotti gave a not-so-satisfying answer to the new amazing translation.
Because if even he doesn’t know what’s behind it, then who should we expect an explanation from? However, one thing is certain: Real Madrid is able to climb back from the edge of the abyss again and again, refuting what they believed to be irrefutable laws, and fueling their belief in their own greatness. Most of it probably stems from this: the players have done it so many times that they believe – in fact: they know – that they can do it. And what is at least as important is that their opponents feel it too.
That’s why when panic sets in at crucial moments, Real somehow find their way through the chaos.
Many coaches have dedicated their entire careers to the discovery of perfect control, but even minds like Pep Guardiola seem to fall into this. Every single match has those stages – maybe even in the smoothest ones – when the grip is reduced, the control is reduced. That’s what fits most of the time, but almost never against Real Madrid – they are able to tame and make chaos work again and again.
Even in a game that seems to play out completely differently than what they are used to. Thomas Tuchel’s plan – based on minimizing errors – basically worked. Kim Min-jae, who made two mistakes in the match in Munich, was removed from the defense, while in the midfield, he voted for a classic defensive midfielder in the person of Aleksandar Pavlović, against Leon Goretzka, who plays football in a much more aggressive style.
The roles were reversed: this time it was Bayern’s defense that stood the ground following the principle of bending but not breaking, only their responses to the genius of Vinicius Junior were incomplete. Manuel Neuer flew around the goal line recalling his best days, keeping the team’s spirits up with more and more beautiful saves when needed. Then, in the 70th minute, the moment that Tuchel had been waiting for the whole match came: Alphonso Davies gave Bayern the lead with a brilliant cross.
Tuchel reacted almost immediately, after the goal he sent Kim in place of Sané, and a few minutes later he took Musiala and Kane off the field. Meanwhile, Ancelotti tuned his team in the other direction: he replaced Luka Modrić, Joselu and Brahim Diaz, but the decision was again left to the last moments. In addition, Real Madrid turned the game around in a completely unrealistic way: it was the one from Munich who was least expected to make a mistake.
Neuer hit an uncomfortably bouncing but defendable shot just in front of Joselu, who slapped the ball into the goal without hesitation. And from there, the continuation was already legal, as Bayern Munich first missed their match points (the Kane situation, the developed counter on Pavlović), and then even brought Real back into the match. After the conceded goal, the Munich defense was completely confused, and despite the fact that three defenders were on the pitch, Joselu Rüdiger’s pass found him completely empty.
In the beginning, the goalkeeper made another huge mistake when, contrary to the current rules, he immediately signaled offside (probably wrongly), but it would be an exaggeration to say that Bayern’s equalizing goal passed the decision, because Marciniak blew his whistle, and the Madrid defenders already they didn’t try to stop De Ligt from scoring. On the other hand, the German side must be justified in the fact that they were denied a scoring chance at the end by the refereeing staff.
Carlo Ancelotti is Joselu (Real Madrid)
In any case, Real reached the final again in the most realistic way possible: with a match reversed at the last moment, with a duel brought back from the edge of an abyss, with a completely unexpected protagonist.
Joselu joined Real Madrid in 2009, but he only got occasional opportunities among the adults. In the hope of development, he moved to Germany, where he visited three clubs with moderate success before heading to England, where he did not make a lasting impression at either Stoke City or Newcastle United. Since his return to Spain, he has lived the life of a decent dozen strikers, until last summer, when the call came from Real Madrid.
Pérez didn’t intend for him to be in the starting team, he just wanted to cover the profile with the routine attacker, but Joselu accepted his role and was able to add many times to Real Madrid’s season. He scored the winner against Real Sociedad, had a goal and an assist against Girona and scored 9 goals in 1,500 minutes in La Liga. And on Wednesday, he entered Real Madrid’s CL history forever, which seemed unthinkable two years ago, but even at the beginning of the season.
Two weeks ago, in the lead-up, I asked the question in the title, can Bayern Munich be more Real Madrid than Real Madrid. Well, Bayern Munich tried and came close but failed in the end, leaving Real Madrid within arm’s reach of winning the Champions League. From the fifteenth.
