Real Madrid have started their new pre-season with their freshly instituted coach Carlo Ancelotti, who replaced the controversial José Mourinho, after having moved from Paris Saint-Germain to his new footballing preference. The first training sessions have been completed and many of the new summer signings, amongst them the fresh young talent Isco from FC Málaga, show some promising skills.
Also very interesting is the fact that former Real Madrid legend and World Player of the Year, Zinédine Zidane, has a new role at the club as assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti, after having fulfilled all the formal requirements for the position over the last couple of years, starting with involvement in the coaching of the Real Madrid Castilla, the youngster team of the club.
Due to this involvement, he already got to know some of the young players that have moved up to the first team in the meantime. Álvaro Morata and Jesé Rodriguez showed some very promising and impressive football. Morata, who played at the U21 Euro 2013 along with the newly signed Isco and Asier Illaramendi from Real Sociedad, had a tremendous tournament and helped Spain to claim yet another Euro title. Isco was signed for € 30 million, while Asier Illaramendi was worth € 38 million to Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, making him the most expensive Spanish signing in the club’s history.
Another notable figure in the U21 Euro squad of Spain is Daniel Carvajal, who was brought back to Real Madrid after having played for the German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a club infamously known for its record defeat by Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League.
Many of Ancelotti’s former players describe him as a coach that puts an emphasis on the psychological relationship between him and the players. After the differences between former coach José Mourinho, who more or less split the team in half with some of the players, most notably Iker Casillas and Pepe, having rather strong differences in opinion compared to Mourinho, and the rest of the squad being faithful as a dog to the Portuguese superstar, who moved back to his old club Chelsea after the 2012/2013 season with Real Madrid had come to an end. In the end, one might come to the conclusion that Ancelotti has exactly the right kind of attitude and style of coaching that the players, especially the likes of Casillas and Pepe, need at this point in time in order to bring back harmony and team oriented thinking amongst the Real Madrid players.
The new 2013/2014 season all over Europe will be a very interesting one indeed – after all, the majority of the big clubs in Europe have replaced their head coaches and as always, new stars rise and old ones fall. In Barcelona for example, the interplay between Messi and the new Brazilian star Neymar will be very interesting for a lot of football fans. In Germany, former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola took over at FC Bayern München, the current triple title holders in Europe. He brought in the young Barcelona player Thiago Alcántara, who will compete with the numerous other midfield players at Bayern. This will create a similar situation like in Madrid, where a large number of players will compete for the scarce positions in midfield.
In England, David Moyes took over as head coach after the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement at the end of last season. However, a couple of issues remain with Manchester United, as Wayne Rooney allegedly wants to leave the club and potential transfers that were heated up by the media, like the one of Thiago Alcántara turned out fruitless. Rival club Manchester City also introduced a new coach, the Argentine Manuel Pellegrini, who has also coached Real Madrid in the past. And, as mentioned before, José Mourinho took back over at Chelsea.
Still, it will not be an easy first season for Ancelotti and Zidane, as the Real Madrid board and fans anxiously expect the tenth UEFA Champions League title, next to the league title of course. We wish him all the best and may the best team win 😉
The Germafrican 