It may no longer be there since the stadium revamp but at Estadio Bernabeu there used to be a sign greeting punters as they readied to enter the room where Real Madrid stored its treasures.
“Trophies tell the whole story,” it began. “Each trophy won closes a period of time in which Real Madrid was better than its rivals. The end result is the sum of these trophies.”
It was a deceptively modest declaration of superiority, and not wholly in keeping with the surrounds. Some clubs have a cabinet for their trophies; Real have a room the size of an airport.
As you walk past those 15 European Cups/Champions League pieces of silverware and the rest – it takes a while – every step is a reminder of the greatness, strength and glory of Real Madrid. This is an epic sporting institution and, the accounts say, it is only getting bigger.
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Yet when Real visit fourth-bottom Deportivo Alaves on Sunday in La Liga it will be in the wake of rare consecutive defeats. It is something that did not happen at all last season as two more major pieces – La Liga and the Champions League – were added to the collection.
Last Saturday Real lost 2-1 at home to Valencia, Liverpool-bound Giorgi Mamardashvili saving a penalty for the visitors. Then on Tuesday in north London, “Declan Rice’s Arsenal” swept past Real to take a three-goal lead to the Bernabeu next Wednesday.
The first defeat left Real four points behind Barcelona at the top of La Liga; the second left Real on the brink of a last-eight exit from the Champions League. Suddenly two trophies within touching distance were nudged away from Real’s grasp.
The latter result at Arsenal felt a bit more than just a knock-out phase loss. It felt, in keeping with Real, bigger. It took you back to that famous line from the Internazionale coach Helenio Herrera to Bill Shankly after Inter’s loss at Anfield in 1965: “We have been beaten before, but never defeated. Tonight we were defeated.”
Tuesday’s loss in London may not carry the same historic heft but in time its significance could swell. It was a complete defeat.
“We’re lucky we got away with three goals,” Jude Bellingham said correctly. Others noted Thibaut Courtois was Madrid’s outstanding performer, although perhaps questionable on the first of Rice’s raking free-kicks. They pointed out Real have now conceded 11 goals in their last four matches. You really do miss a player of Dani Carvajal’s substance. Meanwhile what is Trent Alexander-Arnold thinking?
Of course everyone also mentioned Real’s reputation for head-shaking comebacks and next Thursday we might be reading about another. Should Real score the first goal, and in the first hour, Arsenal’s depth will be tested severely.
But amid the excited commentary it was the post-match remark from Carlo Ancelotti which was most striking. “Why,” he asked, “am I finding it difficult to instil ambition in these players?”
Questioning a Real Madrid footballer’s ambition is questioning his raison d’être. It was a verbal challenge from Ancelotti that is unlikely to have been received sympathetically in the dressingroom. Some there might respond that his primary duty is to instil tactical structure and order, not to rely on individual exceptionalism, especially in the midst of a defensive injury crisis. And they would have a point.
Part of Ancelotti’s broad appeal in this look-at-me coaching world is his languid self-deprecation. He would not assume credit for Bellingham’s talent, or Rodrygo’s or Kylian Mbappé‘s. His management style has been about allowing players to flow without constant instruction. Ancelotti understands his role differs from that of, say, Valencia’s Carlos Corberan, who is one of those micromanagement coaches of malleable players. Real Madrid players tend to be rather less easy to coax.
Ancelotti did add on Tuesday that his team’s “compact” formation needed to be more thorough, but it sounded secondary to his main assessment on ambition.
That is a price of Real’s recruitment. “Zidanes y Pavones” was once the club’s buying and growing policy. To outsiders it translated as “artists and soldiers”. On Tuesday Real needed to win a few battles. Again you miss someone like Carvajal.
As was seen in Paris St-Germain’s victory over Aston Villa 24 hours later, asking a 19-year-old from Rennes – Desire Doue – to track back to win the ball is easier than asking Mbappé or Neymar to do so. Defending from the front is not the ambition of a Galactico forward.
Mbappé has left PSG for Real. The difference is visible in Paris more than in Madrid and that will sting.
But it might be Ancelotti who smarts more than Mbappé. It is unfortunate for the Italian that he will not be on the touchline at Alaves due to a one-match ban. It could give Real Madrid, and its playing staff, a glimpse of the future. Ancelotti will be 66 in June; his latest contract, signed in December 2023, lasts until June 2026.
We can sense a direction of travel and in Leverkusen, Xabi Alonso (43), five years a Madrid player, may share it.
And yet there is still a treble possible for Real. It will require the overturning of three goals against Arsenal to keep the notion alive, then two games against Barcelona will shape the rest of the season. The first is the Copa Del Rey final in Seville in a fortnight, the second is the league visit to Barca another fortnight on.
Few would be positive about Real’s chances of winning one of those and, instead it could be Barcelona celebrating a treble. If so then the club’s line in the Bernabeu introduction about each trophy won closing a period of time will equally apply to each trophy lost and it will surely be the end of Ancelotti’s second spell in charge. On Wednesday a well-connected Spanish radio reporter was saying Carlo’s time is nigh.
Ancelotti has overseen seven major additions to that trophy hangar and maintained perspective as the stadium changed in front of his eyes. He fit the bill. He did more than look the part.
In a remarkable sentence from the 1960s’ Real Madrid Book of Football it is stated: “Real recognise that to be beaten occasionally is good for the soul.”
In 2025 it might mean more than that. Real’s potential elimination would be good for the Champions League. Of the four most likely semi-finalists, neither Arsenal nor PSG have ever lifted the grandest European trophy of all, while Barcelona last won it in 2015 and Inter in 2010. Difference stimulates interest. Change brings change.
Florentino Perez knows that. Carlo Ancelotti knows it.
