Madrid traveled to Germany in December to close the group stage of the Champions League in an inconsequential duel against Unión Berlin. And yet Fede Valverde was a starter. At half-time, Carlo Ancelotti considered that he had already jogged enough, and decided to replace him to give him some respite and continue with the rotation plan on a filling day, but the Uruguayan turned his nose up in the locker room. He didn’t hide it, he still wanted a little more.
In reality, it was one of the few breaks that the Italian has given to the midfielder, the only one in the squad who has participated in all 45 Madrid games and, by far, the one who has accumulated the most minutes (3,665). “He is a team player. This is decisive in the fact that he always put it. He contributes wherever he puts him, that’s why he is irreplaceable,” said the coach in the preview of the Bernabéu classic (9:00 p.m., Movistar).
Since the spring of 2022, Valverde has become a kind of Swiss army knife for Ancelotti. He became a starter on the way to the last Champions League by playing as a substitute winger, usually works in the interior, accompanied Kroos in the double pivot at the end of 2023 and has even been a sporadic right back (also with Zinedine Zidane). He went from not scoring to scoring goals in series from outside the area and, again, not seeing the goal by delaying his position somewhat. But for two years now, Valverde has always been on the pitch, like in Manchester. From the moment of the meeting, his agonistic gestures were evident, a reflection of the whites’ resistance to the limit. Vinicius couldn’t take it anymore, Rodrygo needed relief, Carvajal burst, but he continued there until the end. “The rival (City) plays better. Mentally, you get behind it and it’s fucked up. In addition to getting tired, your head kills you from running after the ball,” confessed Valverde, who gave up taking the fifth penalty because he did not feel physically strong.
Riding the wave of the success of the resistance, Ancelotti did not find any problem for Valverde this Saturday. “His season is one of continuity,” he stressed. At the beginning of the year, however, he did leave an interesting reflection on the Uruguayan, half football player, half human. “I think he can improve when he has more personality and character. He is a very humble person who understands that he is strong. This profile, in a way, is good. “I prefer a humble player to an arrogant one, but sometimes having a little arrogance makes you stronger in character,” argued the man from Reggiolo.
In the last three campaigns, there have been so many Valverdes as Ancelotti needed. He took over the title in the course of the double on the right turned into a three in one: running the wing up (Vini scored from a pass from him in the final in Paris), concreting the middle and helping Carvajal. At the beginning of last season, he gave him public duties: “If you don’t score 10 goals, I’ll tear up my card and retire,” he told him. And he went from one goal in 2021-22 to 12 in the next. The collection of spankings before the World Cup caused astonishment. And in this, his obligations underwent another variation. The team’s architecture led it to not stretch as much in attack and support Kroos more, especially when Camavinga and Tchouameni were injured. He only has two targets.
The statistics certify this more contained version: he shoots at goal less (0.7 times per match last year -1.1 before the World Cup- and 0.4 in this one); he gives one less pass in the last third of the field (19.8 the previous year and 18.9 this year); and recovers more (from 4.1 to 4.7), according to Opta.
At the beginning of the season, in Valdebebas they noticed him somewhat dispersed, as if he was having a hard time starting the engine. Ancelotti’s commitment to him, however, has never been lacking. Nor when at the beginning of 2023 he went through a very delicate personal situation, when he and his partner learned that his pregnancy would probably not come to fruition, a misfortune that was not confirmed. With Carletto, there have been few certainties greater than the ownership of Valverde doing whatever he needs to do. A multi-guild.
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