“I have removed him (Arda Güler) because he has delivered, I wanted to get fresh legs and, above all, win, which is what Madrid asks of me. Win the games, don’t give minutes to the youngest players,” a very firm Carlo Ancelotti started last Saturday. “This transition, which has started little by little, is being fulfilled and going very well. The young people have progressed and the veterans continue to maintain a fantastic level,” added the Italian without wanting to leave anything behind on a fundamental issue for which he often has to give public explanations.
The answer, in addition to sending another message to the new youngster – “in the next matches he will have the minutes he wants”, he had also said seriously after the classic –, served the white coach to vindicate his task in the vaunted generational change. He is moving forward, it is irreversible due to the composition of the squad, but at the pace that Carletto considers, a prudent man who knows that there is no more important long-term in Madrid than victory in the next game. Especially for his survival.
Without revolutions and in some cases pushed by departures, the whites’ return to other Champions League semi-finals shows the team’s journey from the return duel with City in 2022 to this one with Bayern two years later. That night against the English, the average age of the starting eleven was 29 years and 130 days, with six players 30 or older. This Wednesday (9:00 p.m., Movistar; 2-2 in the first leg), barring big surprises, the average will drop to 26 years and 183 days (if Tchouameni is central and Nacho, substitute), or to 27 years and 243 days in the case that the captain is a starter (the Frenchman would act as a pivot and Camavinga would start on the bench), according to the company Opta. In the first option there would be three footballers with 30 or more; and in the second, four. Always far from the six of two seasons ago.
One of the most memorable images of that madhouse semi-final was that of Casemiro, Kroos, Modric and Benzema following the outcome from the sidelines after being substituted. Because of the rarity that it entailed. That was the Madrid they led, although the need on the scoreboard pushed Ancelotti to look for solutions in the youth squad. Camavinga and Rodrygo, then agitators and today the main dish, finished on the field. In the final, the Brazilian approached Carletto to ask him to take him out, to not forget him after his two saving goals in the semifinals, according to the player himself in EL PAÍS. And he did it, although already in ’93. Now, his inclusion in the eleven of a hypothetical final would not be in doubt. Those were the times when the coach spoke of “60 minutes of quality (in reference to plan A of the veterans) and 30 of energy (of young people like Rodrygo and Camavinga)”.
Rejuvenation has been something sought with the signing of young people, but it has also been accelerated with some departures, such as those of Casemiro (2022) and Benzema (2023). Both on their own and without barriers from the club (with the Carioca he earned 70 million). In other cases, they have been due to sporting decisions. The most sensitive case has been – is being – that of Modric (38 years old), a key point in this process.
The spinal cord as a symbol
His, in fact, is an example of the care and pause with which Ancelotti has been handling the matter. Although the issue of generational change had been hovering over the public debate for months, with constant questions in the press room in which the coach appealed to “the patience of young people and the understanding of veterans”, it was not until after the 4th 0 for City when the Italian reduced the Croatian. Until then, he was unchallenged. He also tried it at the beginning of this season without Kroos – the club had asked him to quicken the transition – although he did not force that path. He backed down quickly because he saw that he could not live without the German and successfully surrounded him with young people.
For one reason or another, the midfield is the best representation of Madrid’s journey in these three seasons. From “I’m not going to get in there” (in reference to Casemiro, Kroos and Modric) that Carletto uttered in 2021, to a current midfield where of that trio only the German resists.
The move in that area and, in general, a shorter average age of the team has also caused changes in Madrid’s game. If the 2022 Champions League was lifted with the so-called low block because the accumulation of veterans did not allow him to press high (he had tried), now Ancelotti can consider raising lines, as he did in many minutes of the first leg with City. It is one of the differences between what the Madrid of the miracles of 2022 did and what the current one of the resistance can propose (without giving up accumulating).
A path guided by the maxim of little by little to manage an irreversible transition. Until Madrid had the League resolved, Arda Güler did not smell it.
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