The jam of the Spanish team against Morocco was as evident as the collapse that the clubs in the League have been suffering at an international level. Yes, the successes have continued to fall in European competitions but the average level in these tournaments, especially in the Champions League, sets a thermometer that is clearly going down. The elimination of Luis Enrique's team against the shrewd Moroccan team was just another proof of alchemy that there is a problem of quality, quantity and mentality. This setback is related to the fiasco carried out by the Spanish teams in the current Champions League.
It should be remembered that only Madrid, the last bastion, has reached the round of 16. A single representative, something that had not happened since 24 years ago and three eliminated in the group stage, something that had never happened before.
Barça and Sevilla have found their bones again in the Europa League and Atlético, in a pathetic performance, is not even still alive at the continental level. In the group stage of the Champions League, six victories for the Spanish teams for eight defeats. A more than negative and representative balance.
To make matters worse, the surviving Madrid happens to be the least Spanish of the outstanding teams in the League, both for what it does to the number of important players and for what it does to its style of play. In his lineups, Carlo Ancelotti only usually includes a footballer who can be selected for the red, Dani Carvajal, who is not even a starter for Luis Enrique. In the four World Cup games he only started against Germany.
The other Real Madrid player in Qatar has been Marco Asensio, a regular substitute for the Whites. In fact, he has been a starter in Madrid (3) as well as in the World Cup.
Luis Enrique has pulled a Barcelona block whose greatest exponents are either in the training phase due to their youth, in the case of Balde, Gavi and, now more consolidated, Pedri, in a stage of lowering the blinds, such as Jordi Alba or Sergio Busquets, or in a recovery situation, like Ansu Fati.
A complex cooking point that has not given the desired results. Deep down there were signs that this could happen, even though the defeat of Costa Rica raised hopes to the maximum and despite the fact that Spain is in the final four of the Nations League.
In the last five editions of the Champions League, Spanish football has had five appearances in the semifinals. Five out of twenty possible clubs. 25%. Not bad. But the number is tricky. Madrid, twice champions in this period, have been semifinalists three times. The other two correspond to the surprising Villarreal last season and to Barça, in 2019, a half game on the unfortunate night in Liverpool and who since then has navigated the Champions League like a lost soul, without even reaching the crosses in the last two seasons. The white conquests or those of Sevilla or Villarreal in the Europa League have sweetened a downward process.
The good times are leaving behind. From 2010 to 2020, 7 of the 11 Europa League winners were Spanish teams, specifically, divided between Sevilla and Atlético de Madrid. Likewise, in the Champions League, 6 of the 11 champions were either Real Madrid, with 4 Champions, and Barcelona, with 2.
Meanwhile, at the selection level, the bad results were also happening. Since Spain won the World Cup in South Africa, they have been unable to win in a match, and have not even scored a goal in the round of 16. Almost all the exponents of the golden generation have retired, the relief has not yet come to the rescue with sufficient force. They are caught between the past and the future.
