The midfield and forward line that José Mourinho lined up on Sunday at the Metropolitano was exactly the same as the one a year ago in the same stadium, the one formed by Xabi Alonso and who received that painful 5-2: Tchouameni, Valverde, Güler, Bellingham, Vinicius and Mbappé. The data, far from being a coincidence, illustrates the commitment of Madrid's sports policy for a squad and a series of players. The football displayed by the team in both matches, however, symbolizes the lack of results of this bet on which the entity has been insisting for a long time.
Beyond the understandable complaint regarding the referee's performance, which the club insisted on this Monday, on Sunday afternoon in the San Blas district, during the 50 minutes that the match lasted in numerical equality, it once again questioned several of the men identified as key from the offices. Huijsen (the most expensive defender, 62.5 million) was once again unreliable in a highly demanding match and committed the penalty that undid the whites. The midfield formed by the feuding Valverde and Tchouameni continued to be incapable two years after imposing a game plan. Güler, substituted after Huijsen was sent off, was overwhelmed by a physical encounter. Mbappé disappeared in another big event (no shot on goal). And Vinicius, relieved along with the Turk in '54, deepened his long personal collapse. Simeone did not hesitate to look for his wing to hurt Madrid.
The Metropolitan's appointment further deepened the doubts about the squad, but no case better represents the general loss than that of Vini, who in the last four games (Inter, Rayo, Elche and Atlético) has only added four dribbles. The Portuguese coach has always defended him in public and his work group tries to close ranks with that message, but his decisions also speak for him. He has relieved him in these four recent duels and each time before. This Sunday, he was sent to the bench without reaching game time, before ever in an event of this size. His wing was occupied by Yan Diomande, very active in his time (four dribbles), just like last Tuesday in Elche (seven moves completed throughout the night, which he finished again on the left).
Mou, who has not started any revolution, has tried to pamper the Brazilian with words, but in a soft tone he has urged him to be decisive with goals, not just with assists (he has three). So far, he has only scored one goal, an empty net on the second day. And when he returns from the break, another Bernabéu trial awaits him, where the popular surcharge for the Ceuta shirt case can be added, just like Mbappé. The Frenchman, who has 18% of his goals in classics, derbies, European qualifiers and finals (17 out of 94), completed an afternoon in the shadow of the Metropolitano. Short of passes, he did not create his chances and disappeared.
Güler should have taken care of the connection with the Frenchman, who appeared at the event as Madrid's greatest chance generator (28 in six games) and left the Metropolitano pitch with only one. Atlético's physical strength reduced its influence to a minimum. The Portuguese coach already warned in the previous days that the Turk is not untouchable for him (he has not finished any match) and used his classic language to place him on the map: now he does not see him as a “top, top, top” player, but “top, top”. The sum of all the factors led on Sunday to the lowest number of expected goals of the white season (0.32), a poor figure that is not only explained by the numerical inferiority from the 50th minute onwards.
Álvaro Arbeloa spoke a few months ago to the locker room of the film Groundhog Day, due to the recurrence of errors and neglect of functions, the point where Madrid has been trapped since in August 2024 Carlo Ancelotti warned of the holes in the game and attitude that threatened its proper functioning. The six points behind Barcelona (the Camp Nou classic is in three days), the poor play in the first half of the derby, the team's disconnections in the previous matches and the alarming performance of Vinicius now turn on the clock of Mou's decisions, who this Sunday once again resorted to his old recipe book: a conservative approach in a thorny event.
The coach, who publicly extended his speech of good words to the players, joined the institutional complaint against the refereeing work of Ortiz Arias and Trujillo Suárez, and the entire establishment, in which the entity abounded this Monday. It is the protest that emerges after the repeated cracks in Madrid's game.
