Just five games – three ties – stand between Real Madrid and their sixth Champions League title over the past 10 years.
Should they manage to see off the challenge of an off-colour, goal-shy Chelsea, next up will be either Bayern Munich or Manchester City in the semi-finals.
Domestically, Carlo Ancelotti’s men are 13 points off La Liga leaders Barcelona, but their recent 4-0 drubbing of their bitterest of rivals has set up a Copa del Rey final against Osasuna and provided the rest of Europe with a timely warning.
It’s April. It’s Real Madrid time.
We’ve been here before. Not fancied by many, off colour in the league, but somehow when the big knockout matches get going, Los Blancos come into their own.
With a record 14 European titles to their name, how have they continually defied the odds to prove themselves masters of the art of winning in Europe?
For many years, especially during the Franco regime, Real Madrid was the country’s representative on the world’s footballing stage and had to be seen as the very best that Spain could offer. It was the national anthem rather than that of the club that was played wherever they went and with this perception came enormous responsibility.
A gaze around the presidential box even now on match day at the Santiago Bernabeu says it all. Full of top politicians, financial luminaries, prestigious celebrities from all fields such as television, film, sport and the media, you are left in no doubt this is the place to be seen.
But the very best in their field want to be associated with success. Fame, power and success are inextricably linked and if you want to stay surrounded by that exalted company, winning becomes an obligation.
And that power that permeates every nook and cranny of the Bernabeu is as much a boost to all those that are embraced by it as it is a terrifying weight around the neck of their opponents. Many players and managers have spoken about the “scenic fear” of the Real Madrid stadium, a sentence first used by their former player and manager, Jorge Valdano.
There is also the perception this “scenic fear” helps influence officials when it really matters, on those big occasions where the pressure is huge.
The inevitable consequence for the club is that everyone from the top down is very demanding and winning becomes the only philosophy possible.
‘Anything short of winning is a catastrophe’
When Real Madrid go shopping they settle for nothing but the very best.
The result is a lot of quality and loads of personality. Big match players, most of them with a lot of experience, that can win you the very biggest of games are always the staple of their squad.
It is undoubtedly all about substance over style.
They have never been particularly obsessed with any given football style – unlike rivals Barcelona – but rather in taking advantage of that very best talent.
“In Madrid, style has never kept anyone awake. The style is to win… winning was, from the beginning of time, an institutional necessity,” says Argentine World Cup winner Valdano.
“The essential thing is when a player arrives at Madrid he learns right away that anything short of winning is called a catastrophe.
“The club limits itself to asking them to live up to history. The fans too, and without any kindness. He who bears that pressure is up to the task.”
Those who fail to step up to the plate – and there have been many – will not last long at the club.
What awaits new players is a colosseum of a stadium, galleries of pictures representing a who’s who of football greats – past and present – and an abundance of trophies on display. It will test their mental resolve and personality from day one.
Those who make it have the thickest of skins. From these sort of characters come the victories, including the most unlikely of results and comebacks that have become their trademark in the Champions League.
It is the players that define success or failure at Real Madrid.
Former player Victor Sanchez del Amo said that “Madrid is the best because it empowers the player”.
Real Madrid fan and author of “Forging Glory: A brief history of Real Madrid”, Jesus Bengoechea, wrote: “With the possible exception of the stages of Fabio Capello and Jose Mourinho, there have been hardly any phases in Madrid’s history in which the coach has been more important than the players.
“Liverpool’s big star is Klopp. The great star of Madrid is anyone but Ancelotti. When things go wrong, the Liverpool player looks at the bench looking for the German, as the City player does looking for Guardiola.
“The Madrid player does not look at his bench when things go wrong. He looks inside himself and remembers why Madrid signed him – because he is amazingly good, because he is the man for that moment and for that place.”
The player looks at the badge on his shirt and does not need reminding that it was worn by the likes of Di Stefano, Gento, Raul, Zidane, Cristiano, Ramos, Benzema, Modric says Bengoechea.
“The simple fact of doing so gives him such a flow of strength that the prophecy is self-fulfilling,” he added. “Only the best are worth wearing that shield, ergo I am the best, and through that thought it turns out that this footballer, already very talented, becomes even better.”
Sometimes in this context less is more, going some way to explaining why Real Madrid coaches such as Vincente del Bosque, Zinedine Zidane and Ancelotti have achieved more Champions League success than more demanding rigid examples like Capello and Mourinho.
“There is no Madrid coach who has won the Champions League without, to a certain extent, knowing how to disappear a bit,” Bengoechea concludes.
‘Real Madrid can awaken at any time’
Speaking to the FC Barcelona coaching staff before the second leg of the Copa del Rey, and mentioning that the Catalan club had beaten their rivals three times in a row, there was a respect, not for what had happened but for what might happen next.
The Catalan coaches kept repeating that Real Madrid can awaken any time and that we have not seen their best this season but they don’t need to play well to win the big matches. It smelled of fear factor even within Barcelona.
Real Madrid won last season’s Champions League after defeating Liverpool 1-0 in the final. Quite how they managed to get there, and then somehow win it, is another matter altogether.
The reality is that – apart from the first leg at Chelsea in the quarter final – this Real Madrid were inferior to every single team they played in the knockout stages up to and including the final.
But they found a way to win, pulling off momentous comebacks against both Manchester City and Paris St-Germain on their way to lifting the trophy.
Their reputation as comeback kings is far from new, dating back to when Derby came to Madrid in the 1975-76 European Cup with a 4-1 lead only to lose the second leg 5-1 in one of Europe’s greatest turnarounds.
In the 1984-85 Uefa Cup, a 3-0 win over Inter Milan after a 2-0 defeat in the first leg was followed the next season with a 5-1 win against Borussia Monchengladbach after a 4-0 reversal away in the first leg. They made the final that season with a 2-0 win in the second leg. after losing to Inter 3-1 away.
But nothing comes close to last season’s exploits, which made a mockery of the form book and fools out of all us so called experts.
The belief at Real Madrid from the media, to the fans is they can beat anyone.
Defeats for Barcelona hurt more and last longer. In Madrid, they just forget it and then on the basis of no logic whatsoever constantly talk about an ability to beat whoever is in front of them. That sort of unbeatable mentality gets through to the fans and it does not get damaged when it does not happen. They will do it next time.
The difference between the two clubs was summed up by editor of Diario AS, Alfredo Relano, when he said: “Barca is a sentimental area and Madrid an instrument of conquest”.
The ultra demands at Real Madrid
It is a club where defeat is simply not an option, especially with the type of fan the club has.
No player is bigger than the club. Ask anyone who has played there and they will all tell you that no matter who you are, how big a name you might be, if you do not cut the mustard then they will be swift to remind you of your obligations to them and the club. All of the club’s big stars have been whistled and jeered at the Bernabeu. No one is exempt.
The approach is different to the Anglo-Saxon one and Real Madrid fans are confused as to why fans would want to applaud their side after they had just been on the wrong end of a 5-0 thumping.
In the end they are more aligned to those who in the words of Valdano, “never give up and who in that way pay homage to the history of Real Madrid and to all its legends of the past”.
Source – BBC Sport
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