Barcelona fans are experiencing the perfect depression: the only thing missing was this Real Madrid, authoritarian, simple and decisive. In five days they have destroyed Girona and started a 0-1 in Leipzig against one of those German teams and stadiums where the normal thing is to pass Cain's and the desirable thing is to start a draw.
Years go by and one, from Barcelona, still does not want to understand why on earth the great enemy – neither rival, nor opponent, enemy – possesses the formula of eternal youth. Or maybe he's starting to understand it and that's where it hurts. Real Madrid has understood the simplicity of football and its just three or four rules, all invented. There are those who often wonder what life is and who just lives it. Among the latter is the white club.
Seeing Carlo Ancelotti on the sideline gives an idea of the style of the club he coaches. When it's cool, Leipzig night, he adds a dark blue cashmere three-quarter coat, made, no doubt, tailored over a dark blue suit with white shirt and dark blue tie. If he didn't chew gum – an ex-smoker's tic – he could be at La Scala in Milan, the July 14 reception in the Elysée gardens or at a son's wedding. Such a successful outfit agrees with the naturalness with which the bench has faced a no small list of casualties, topped by Bellingham's injury, the latest success in terms of transfers (it will still turn out that Florentino Pérez understands more about football than business). Is Courtois injured? He plays another. Half defense in the infirmary? They end up with Tchouaméni as center back and giving stripes to Carvajal, one of those defenders who are fatal to rival fans but who knows how to solve the ballots. And, regularly, they discover substitutes who already know that protesting at Real Madrid leads to the exit door (and not to a renewal or pressure on the coach). Read Brahim Díaz, with a great goal worthy of Messi.
I have never known what Real Madrid plays, except to score one more goal than the opponent. And I'm starting to think that the less you complicate your life, the easier the path to victory becomes, because the years and decades go by and Real Madrid is still there. There remains the consolation of the derangement that the best Barça in history produced, that great team that silenced the Santiago Bernabéu and showed how badly Mourinho was losing, a symbol of the least gentlemanly and most badass side of the entity. However – a devastating fact – they have won seven Champions Leagues since 2000. There are fashions, cycles and eras in football. But there is only one Real Madrid. It stings, yes, but it is what it is.
