Cibeles as a madridista conspiracy for the comeback against City

Already throughout the week prior to the match between Real Madrid and Espanyol, which ended up assuming, as expected, the league match for the Chamartín team, there was speculation about the possibility that Carlo Ancelotti and the club renounce a celebration to use.

A celebration in style could lead to unnecessary wear and tear with one’s mind set on the Champions League semi-final second leg against Manchester City on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabéu, but it is also true that after the Champions League title 2020, clouded by the situation resulting from the covid-19 pandemic, the current reality, much friendlier, invited not to deny the squad and its fans that long-awaited explosion of joint joy.

Carletto, a master of personal treatment with plenty of left hand to manage a locker room full of egos, was clear from the first moment that the early time of the game and the margin of four days with respect to the match against Guardiola’s pupils allowed a visit crowd to Cibeles, that goddess that the members of the squad who have arrived in the last four years only knew by references, in photos or videos of the past.

“If we are able to win the game and the League, we will celebrate because that will also help us for the second leg against City,” Ancelotti assured after the exciting game played at the Etihad. “Winning a title with Madrid is very special, like the atmosphere at the Bernabéu. Celebration is a good thing on the mental side. Tonight we will celebrate what we can all together and tomorrow we will train, “added the consummate alirón in Chamartín.

No sooner said than done. The bath of masses was total. Journey by open-top bus from the Bernabéu to Cibeles, accompanied by the crowd that had previously attended the stadium; tribute to the goddess with songs; scarf and flag around the neck of the statue in the hands of the captain, Marcelo; and finally, he returned to the La Castellana coliseum at a higher speed, before the team dinner in Valdebebas. Discreet end of the party, behind closed doors, in the privacy of the squad, the coaching staff and their families. Celebration yes, but excesses just before the umpteenth challenge in the old European Cup.

Back to work

“Yes, you can”, the League champions heard repeatedly. And it is that although it was a celebration for the league championship, everyone looked askance at that Champions for which Real Madrid sighs as it does in no other competition. Even the footballers themselves followed the cry of the fans, excited and convinced of the mystique of the Bernabéu in the Old Continent after an edition of the Champions League plagued by practically inexplicable white feats under the protection of their public.

An entire injection of mental energy, a specific exception because already this Sunday, on Labor Day, the players of the League champion were sweating profusely under the sun of a radiant spring day and on the well-cared grass of the soccer fields. Valdebebas training. It’s time to recover David Alaba, a pillar still in cotton wool, and reach 100% at the moment of truth in the Champions League, the tournament that obsesses Madrid and in which it is just one step away from the final in Paris .