At first glance, this Thursday’s hostile Copa del Rey showdown, when Real Madrid visit San Mames to take on Athletic Bilbao, will be yet another episode in the White House’s disconcerting and disappointing love-hate relationship with the historic competition. of the Spanish Cup.
From a distance, Madrid’s record of winning just two Copas del Rey in the last 28 years makes no sense at all. They have often dominated domestically during that period, boasting rosters packed with excellent players. Worst of all: they have been forced to suffer because Barcelona, their staunch rival, turned the competition into their personal fiefdom during that quarter of a century; something that surely irritates the swollen meringue a lot. For this reason, it is curious to see that since the 1993 Copa del Rey final, when Madrid beat Zaragoza 2-0, a team that has spent the last nine seasons adrift in the Second Division, the latter has lifted the trophy three times; Deportivo La Coruña (which plays in the Third Division) has done so on a couple of occasions, as has Espanyol. In a few words: we are talking about three modest eleven that have equaled or improved Madrid’s performance in the Copa del Rey from then until now. (Barca have won the competition nine times).
If Madrid is the club that makes your heart pound, perhaps it is a consolation that Carlo Ancelotti was not only the last white coach to win this competition, achieving it in the most dramatic way thanks to a goal from Gareth Bale that marked an era in the 2014 final against Barcelona. In addition, the Italian coach has once again taken on the task of winning this season’s version with the utmost seriousness.
Prior to all the Cup matches played so far (away against Elche and Alcoyano), Ancelotti’s infamous caterpillar eyebrow escapes upwards, until it is located above his forehead, when asked if he will line up a gala XI . “We will put the best possible team on the field”, has been his usual answer, with a firm tone. “These matches are not an opportunity to ‘give’ minutes to inexperienced or underutilized players: we want to win this cup.” And despite giving rest to some figures that really required a break, the Italian has not only been true to his word. His footballers have responded, showing hunger on the pitch.
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Alex Pareja talks about what Hazard and Isco can contribute if they continue adding minutes with Real Madrid.
Madrid came within 15 minutes of suffering in extra time against Tercera Division side Alcoyano earlier in the month, before exploding with a powerful two-goal play to seal the win. Two weeks ago, the merengue team played with 10 men after the red card given to Marcelo, and lost 1-0 in extra time against an Elche team that is fighting to avoid relegation until repeating the feat achieved against Alcoyano, scoring two goals in seven minutes to seal the classification. Ancelotti’s players have understood the message at the pace set by their coach: “This season we want to win everything”. And it is there that a second anomaly arises, a very strange one.
The European “treble” is a football marathon that requires winning the domestic league, the main Cup competition and becoming Champion of the continent, all in the same campaign. Only seven magnificent clubs have achieved this top honour. (In chronological order: Celtic in 1966-67, Ajax in 1971-72, PSV Eindhoven in 1987-88, Manchester United in 1998-99, Barcelona in 2008-09 and 2014-15, Inter Milan in 2009-10 and Bayern Munich in 2012-13 and 2019-20).
Throughout its history, being considered the number one club in the history of European football, isn’t it crazy to see that Madrid are not part of that list and, in fact, they have rarely threatened to achieve the feat? Considering that no club has won the LaLiga title or the European Cup/Champions League more times than Real Madrid, they would be right to believe that the Copa del Rey is often the competition that ruins any chance they have of including your name on that exclusive “triple” winners table.
A brief review of the frustrations this tournament causes the White House could, for example, stop at the 2008-09 campaign. The season of the Barcelona triplet, the first under the orders of Pep Guardiola and the same one that Xavi recently cataloged as his “favorite” during his entire career wearing the Blaugrana colors. That feat could have been frustrated by Madrid if they did not sign two 6-6 draws against Real Unión and allowed the “matagigantes” who play in the Third Division to eliminate them by scoring away at the Bernabéu, specifically in the 89th minute.
For the avoidance of doubt: Madrid put on the pitch a World Cup winner (Fabio Cannavaro), several World Cup finalists and a multitude of Champions League winners (Raúl, Marcelo, Jerzy Dudek, Wesley Sneijder, Michel Salgado) and despite Of this, they allowed six goals against a small team that plays in the Third Division. It’s just an example, but a poignant one. Reason enough, one could say, to pay attention to the way in which Ancelotti and his squad, the current leader of LaLiga, received a strong blow to the chin from Alcoyano a few weeks ago and not only did they fight again, but they also finished off by way of knockout.
Madrid’s appetite to win this ancient and historic tournament, which frequently brings brawls, sublime goals, drama, controversy and comebacks in Cup finals, has returned to its feet. To which I reply with a “Hallelujah!” Now, we can answer “probably” to the question of whether they will be able to keep Sevilla at bay in the fight for the title. However, the challengers have built up nicely in the January transfer window and have an army of quality players returning from injury, illness or playing in the African Cup of Nations. That is an unknown. Another question is whether Madrid’s patent excellence in some positions in its squad is still athletic and intense enough to deal not only with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16, but also (tentatively) against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea or Bayern, to reach the quarterfinals.
Yet this is a time when Real Madrid’s ultra-ambitious president Florentino Pérez is unquestionably trying to stamp his signature and a stamp of historic greatness on the club he has led for 22 years, except for a brief absence. He won’t remove Santiago Bernabéu’s name from the stadium where Madrid play and replace it with his own, but he does try to outshine (rather than merely emulate) his presidential forebear after whom the white arena is named.
After having presided over five successes in the Champions League (one less than those achieved by the Bernabéu during his tenure, Pérez has tried (unsuccessfully) to inaugurate a European Super League (leaving behind the concept of the European Cup/Champions League that the Bernabéu helped create), while that the reconstruction of the stadium led by him is an epic and exciting project, and one of the few “great” achievements that Florentino has yet to achieve, one never achieved during the Santiago Bernabéu era, is that Madrid win a “Triplete” , or several.
We must say that, after 65 years without being able to achieve it, this season’s Madrid squad, as admirable as it is in some respects, does not seem like a convincing candidate to change history. However, that 2008-09 season for Barcelona (indeed, the hat-tricks won by PSV Inter and United) showed that tough character, depth of squad, intense winning mentality and durability can sometimes be just as important as possessing brilliance. in the starting XI or seem, by far, the best team at domestic and European level.
Is that, tentatively, what Eder Militao, David Alaba, Luka modric, Tony Kroos, Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro Y Karim Benzema within the current Ancelotti squad?
We reiterate: Ancelotti was the coach who brought Madrid closest to a treble during modern history. During the Italian’s first term at the Bernabéu, Madrid won ultra-dramatic finals (against Barcelona and Atlético) in the Cup and Champions; however, they only added five of the final 12 points in LaLiga, as Atlético lifted the championship during the last game of the campaign.
Seven points lost: first at home against Valencia, then other costly missteps away against Valladolid and Celta. The defeat cost Ancelotti, Florentino and Madrid a lot. And here they meet again.
Immediate problems include the fact that three Real Madrid players (Casemiro, Rodrygo and Vinicius) will return from Brazil approximately 24 hours before the Cup match in Bilbao; with time difference problems, but hopefully they will do it healthy. It is likely that Ferland Mendy be out due to injury. Karim Benzema, scorer of four of Madrid’s five goals against Athletic this season, is an important doubt. Likewise, Fede Valverde is unlikely to return in time from his commitment to the Uruguay team.
Madrid has beaten Athletic four out of five times since Marcelino’s arrival on the Lions’ bench; three of them by minimal difference. However, this is a test against a team that has been defeated in five of the last 13 Copa del Rey finals and that, after eliminating the White House in last season’s Spanish Super Cup and leaving Barça behind in the previous round of the current competition, they are shown as fierce rivals.
The intense Basque-Madrid rivalry is at stake, as is the current confidence of the Madrid team with a Sevilla that breathes down their necks in LaLiga. Also the White House faces the fact that; with Atlético, Barcelona and Sevilla already eliminated from the competition, this is shown as a “winnable” Copa del Rey. However, make no mistake: also at stake is the possibility of Real Madrid erasing an undesirable and almost inexplicable stain on its brilliant record, ultimately winning the coveted “Triplete”.
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Real Madrid has a ‘treble’ in sight if it finally improves its performance in the Copa del Rey