Vinicius, on the day of the Champions League final, will eat pasta and mashed potatoes. Antonio Rüdiger will be something more orthodox: pasta with bolognese sauce. But none of the Real Madrid players who appeared this Monday looked very convinced when they found out about Carlo Ancelotti’s Saturday menu: broccoli, salmon and pasta.
Six days before the London match against Dortmund, Carletto appeared relaxed, ignoring the spotlight and going into more personal than tactical details of another final for him. “The sixth,” they told him; but he immediately pointed out: “the ninth.” He included all three of him as a player. In total, he has raised four as a coach and two as a footballer.
And what is a man doing in this long wait with so many worn soles in the elite and who is experiencing a revival as unexpected as it is successful? “Enjoy,” he responded as soon as he sat down this Monday in front of two hundred journalists. The coach who confessed a few months ago that his position entails “more suffering than happiness,” assured that the suffering will not plague him until shortly before the final. “The fear will come, but first I want to enjoy it, and I will,” he insisted, as if experience had made it clear to him long ago that the ball can be so treacherous that it is advisable to make good on that self-help commandment of savoring the path.
After eating, he explained, he will try to take a nap. “Then, all the thoughts of the game. And before the locker room talk, my heart will be at 110-120 beats per minute. Cold sweats will appear. This is quite normal, I have experience. And when the game starts, it will return to its normal rhythm,” she noted. For footballers, he said, the best way to reduce tension in the run-up is to give them “fairly clear information to relieve stress.” “If you are clear about what to do, you are calmer,” the coach stressed.
The Reggiolo coach commented that he expects a rival “with fight and fight who does well in all facets”, especially in transitions, and once again claimed “the attitude and commitment to get out of all the problems” of the season. “Now everything is forgotten, but we do not forget the injuries of Courtois, Militão, Alaba, Vinicius, Tchouameni, Camavinga…”, Ancelotti listed. “We have to put the icing on the cake,” he claimed.
“If I tell you the goalkeeper, the debate ends”
The meeting, among a swarm of journalists from all over the world, was more about the skin and sensations in the run-up to such an extreme event than about tactical issues or doubts in the team. Barring a surprise or last-minute unforeseen event, the question surrounding the goal seemed to be resolved in favor of Thibaut Courtois days ago, especially after his great performance two weeks ago against Alavés. In any case, the Italian has not officially confirmed the Belgian for Saturday. An issue that also gave rise to jokes and relaxation. “This week, I don’t have much to do. I like to follow the debate (of the goal). If I tell you who plays, the debate ends,” he said, after reporting that Andriy Lunin was suffering from a fever and did not come to training this Monday.
With the commitment of the day open to the media cleared, the solitude of the remainder of the week in Valdebebas until the trip to London on Thursday will serve to dedicate these sessions to tactics after last week it was time to press the accelerator in the physical section.
Meanwhile, a row of dozens of trucks remained parked in the sports city for the assembly of Taylor Swift’s stage at the Bernabéu. They are the two realities of the white club: the first major planetary concert in the stadium to start making money through events, and a team that is seeking its 15th European Cup in an atmosphere of extraordinary routine.
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