Real Madrid

Real Reign Supreme: Europe’s Most Elite Club Stay On Top

Posted on by Andy Gardner

When Vinícius Junior found himself in space to find the net with what turned out to be Real Madrid’s sole shot on target in the entire Champions League final on Saturday evening in Paris, it felt strangely inevitable yet also something of a surprise.

That moment in itself was essentially a condensed version of Real’s entire campaign – while it seems far-fetched to view the competition’s most successful side in history, now having won European club football’s highest honour 14 times, as something of an underdog, that is kind of true.

Perhaps a more fitting characterisation would be of old-money establishment putting the new-money upstarts in their place, with a run to the final that included victories against Paris St Germain and Manchester City either side of eliminating sanction-stricken Chelsea. In all three of those two-legged ties, this Real side, packed with ageing superstars seemingly playing on beyond their best, somehow found a way to get past their opponents when it seemed impossible.

In each of those knockout ties, Real were seemingly dead and buried, from turning the PSG tie around in the last 30 minutes, through taking the Chelsea quarter final to extra time and on to that incredible stoppage time flurry against City when 3 goals in the 90th minute turned a 3-5 deficit into a 6-5 win on aggregate. That this team keeps finding paths to victory in all those circumstances speaks volumes for the mentality of their players and coach, Carlo Ancelotti.

Once again, in this final against Liverpool, defeat looked most likely but thanks to a combination of an outstanding goalkeeping performance from Thibaut Courtois and a collective determination to keep soaking up pressure, this team kept Jurgen Klopp’s Reds at bay before exploiting one of few potential gaps in Liverpool’s defence – namely the possibility of finding space behind star wing-back Trent Alexander-Arnold – to score the game’s only goal with half an hour still to play.

Coming in to the match, a Liverpool win looked the most likely outcome; Klopp has assembled a fantastic team built on hard work, collective excellence over individual brilliance and the forcing of errors through intensity. The creative genius of Alexander-Arnold, the explosive pace and goalscoring feats of Mohamed Salah and the silky-smooth assurance in defence of Virgil van Dijk – there’s no doubting that this side is among the very best – which also shows just how good the current Manchester City side is to shade them in the Premier League title race.

However, there’s just something about this Real team – whether it be the experience of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Casemiro in midfield, the explosive talent of Vinícius out wide or the scruff-of-neck number 9 play of Karim Benzema, they just keep finding a way to navigate through almost any situation to victory.

Surely much of the praise deserves to go to Ancelotti; this time last year, the Italian had led Everton to an un-noteworthy 10th place in the Premier League, raising questions about his future and perhaps signalling the end of his time at the top table of coaching. When he resigned from his post at Goodison Park to return to the Santiago Bernabeu, many eyebrows were raised, with few expecting him to succeed in the shadow of Zinedine Zidane, despite his second spell in charge of the club having failed to live up to the success of his first, when they claimed a hat-trick of Champions League wins.

This latest success makes Ancelotti the first coach to win the Champions League on four occasions – twice with Real and a further twice with AC Milan. In addition, his record of having won domestic league titles in Italy, England, France, Spain and Germany demonstrates his ability to adapt and develop a winning formula wherever his travels take him. In a footballing world of philosophies and blueprints, where winning isn’t always enough and defining a whole new way of playing the game seems to be desired, Ancelotti’s style seems to be a far more basic one: just win. With style, if you can.

That has been exactly what Real have brought to this year’s Champions League campaign – when the odds have been against them, they’ve managed to stay in games and force their way back into contention, maximising their steadfast belief that they would ultimately come out on top. Benzema in particular has stood out in this team, free at least from his role as Ronaldo’s wingman; his first-leg hat-trick at Stamford Bridge was the highest of highlights, but Modric and Kroos are equally as essential to Real’s success with their unwavering consistency and ability avert danger by shifting the play from one area of the pitch to another under pressure. As a midfield pairing, their understanding of the space they occupy and how to find more elsewhere without sacrificing possession is unrivalled, helping Real avoid the unforced errors that Liverpool impress upon most.

Perhaps on another day, Liverpool might have scored from at least one of their first half opportunities and put this game to bed. Had that have been the case, however, this season’s form suggests that Real would probably still have clung on in this final and again managed to snatch an unlikely victory. As it was, the longer this game went without a goal, the more visibly Liverpool became frustrated and the more a Real win looked on the cards.

When Federico Valverde’s cross found its way to the net via Vinícius’s well-timed run and finish, it felt beyond one of those entirely predictable moments that turn games and more akin to the exertion of will by an empirical force. That sense of the established power ruling through tradition and entitlement, manifested in this case through unwavering confidence in their ability come out on top. They just know that they will ultimately win, so they do.

As a result of their historical success in the European Cup and Champions League, no other club is as closely tied to the competition than Real. This in itself is hugely ironic when you consider the role played by the club and their president, Florentino Perez, in trying to kill UEFA and its flagship tournament by forming and flogging the European Super League fiasco a little over 12 months ago.

So after all, despite that attempt at a coup de t’at last spring, European football’s most haughty member of the establishment were able to flex their muscle on the field when it mattered most and keep their hands on the sport’s biggest prize, which does make it difficult to totally commit to their underdog, against-the-odds journey to lifting the trophy.

Just when you think this team, this club and perhaps even this category of super club – lacking the bottomless pit of petrodollars of their rivals – has done all it can and reached the end of the road, they somehow find a way to stay in the game, stay in the competition and stay relevant in the sport. The bloodline continues, the monarch refuses to die and the Champions League’s kings just keep on winning.

Eriksen emphasises his importance to leave Spurs in a jam

Posted on by Andy Gardner

Spurs' midfield playmaker Christian Eriksen: will he stay or will he go?

Hoorah! Football is back after what feels like a lifetime – or at least a couple of weeks – with the return of the Premier League. There were ominously large victories for Manchester City and Liverpool on the opening weekend, suggesting that we might, at best, be in for another two-horse title race, but we should probably expect another significant gap to the rest. 

Leading that chasing pack is likely again to be Tottenham, who belatedly sparked into life in their opening clash, eventually out-muscling newly promoted Aston Villa to claim a 3-1 win. The Villains, returning to the top flight after three seasons in the Championship, showed plenty of promise in their own performance, led by an outstanding display from central defender Tyrone Mings and an early smash-and-grab goal from John McGinn that threatened to claim all three points until deep into the second half. 

Until that point, Spurs had been, at best, blunt in attack, creating few chances despite dominating possession and territory – a situation that threatened to perpetuate the theory that star striker Harry Kane struggles to find the net in the month of August. 

With the England captain Kane being less supported, more swamped by the likes of Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura, Spurs looked bereft of ideas, struggling to create space and restricted to half-chances falling the way of Moussa Sissoko, whose finishing continues to display all the confidence of someone who scores roughly every two-and-bit years. 

However, that all changed with the introduction of Spurs’ Danish midfield schemer, Christian Eriksen, who has been the subject of a number of transfer rumours since making clear his desire to seek a new challenge away from North London, back in June. 

That declaration of intent was typical of Eriksen – understated, relatively classy but with clear intent that he was destined for more. This is a player that deserves to win titles, trophies and to be considered among the elite. 

That said, finding a landing spot for a player in this market is more complicated than it sounds; despite being in the final year of his contract, Eriksen is still viewed by Tottenham’s chairman, Daniel Levy, as being of great value, understandably, with a transfer fee in the region of £65m thought to be needed to capture his signature. 

Talk of a switch to Manchester United has never really taken off this summer and with the Premier League transfer window now closed, that route seems to be a dead end. In any case, Eriksen’s desired destination is thought to be Real Madrid, who have spent significantly this summer with returning coach Zinedine Zidane thought to be trying to show a lively dressing room – and boardroom – who’s boss. 

With the Madrid club in mind, continental clubs can play a waiting game with players heading towards the end of their contracts, choosing to eschew hefty transfer sums payable to the selling club and instead agree a pre-contract arrangement from 1st January, allowing them to siphon more cash into the star’s pocket as a result of the Bosman ruling. 

All of which leaves Spurs with a headache. On Saturday, they were stodgy, narrow and predictable until Eriksen’s arrival. After his return to the side they came to life, opening up the play and creating a number of clear-cut opportunities, leading to a debut goal for Tanguy Ndombele – who looks like he has the attributes to be a key player for Spurs – and two strikes for Kane, laying to rest the August curse nonsense. 

While Eriksen might not have been directly involved in all three goals, his influence was all over them, accepting the ball in tight areas, spotting passes that other players miss and moving the play rapidly from non-threatening positions into advanced parts of the pitch to stretch a well-organised defence to breaking point. 

It’s possible to suggest that, despite playing less than half of the game, this was a man-of-the-match performance from the Dane, unlocking the Villa defence and, ultimately, being central to Spurs claiming the win. 

Which only further underlines his value to the team – more effective than his midfield colleagues despite being given less than half the opportunity, Eriksen is the heartbeat of this side. If this game was, intentionally or otherwise, a chance for Spurs to test life after Christian, then it was not a pleasant experience. Admittedly, they do have a number of new and returning stars to bolster their attacking options – Heung-Min Son has one game left on his suspension while Dele Alli continues his comeback from injury and Giovani Lo Celso arrives from Betis with great promise – but it’s hard to imagine any of them having the same game-turning impact that Eriksen demonstrated here. 

Spurs are left with few potential outcomes: they either have to find a buyer for Eriksen before the transfer window closes on the continent at the end of August, which looks unlikely given that any potential move would have to work for all parties, or allow him to run down his current deal and potentially move for free. The third – and probably least likely solution – would be for Eriksen to backtrack and sign a new deal with the club. One possibility in this respect would be for Spurs to insert a release clause that would see Eriksen move if a certain fee was triggered, although finding the right level for all involved could be tricky. 

Levy has demonstrated in the past that he drives a hard bargain and generally sees the club come out on top – take the moves to Madrid of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale as examples. Conjuring up a solution that works for Spurs on this occasion would rank highly in Levy’s achievements to date, otherwise this could be the first in a number of costly departures that could see the likes of Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghan and even manager Mauricio Pochettino following Eriksen out of the door.