Real Madrid: myth and mystery

the hidden force

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A new Barça challenges the old Madrid based on excellent raw material.

Time will tell us about its consistency.

But it's Real Madrid that I want to talk about, now that the national teams give us a break.

The team still plays under the magical influence of last season, exuding such confidence that sometimes we are sure they are going to win, even when they seem to be doing everything possible to lose.

Let no one try to find the formula, as remote and mysterious as that of Coca-Cola.

It is like a leap into the void.

These Madrid players even walk like winners.

I believe I have read Alejandro Baricco that there are events that are the product of collective intelligence, "a community purpose that materializes from so much desire and dream."

The cotton test

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Because the hobby is no stranger to mystery.

Last season they contributed with their passion and their faith to stretch the Madrid legend to the point of giving us the feeling that he couldn't give more of himself.

Comebacks that, as a typical product of the house, the team did in triplicate (PSG, Chelsea and City).

Months later we still cannot explain them.

But in the grand final, Madrid decided to go for the opposite, cautiously waiting behind the line of the ball with up to seven men plus the great Courtois, and accelerating with the technical imagination of Benzema and the powerful legs of Vinicius and Valverde.

It was the way Madrid chose to say one more thing: “The other way around I also win”.

defining test.

Because it does not mean that Madrid wins in any way (as those who intend to offend usually say),

Building history

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Stefan Zweig says that when history is looked at closely it is overwhelming.

It happens in all areas except football, which an insane sense of immediacy does not allow to see in perspective and a look that is more emotional than rational does not allow fair analysis.

I think we are not aware that the five Champions raised by various players from the current Madrid squad, put us before something historic.

Only comparable to the feat of that generation that embraced the European Cup and did not let go until they had won the first five editions.

When a footballer arrives at a great club, the challenge is to leave him in a better place than he found him.

But just being up there with previous generations at the best club of the 20th century is saying a lot.

today better than tomorrow

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The yearning to want more that characterizes the human being, these players honor it.

Those heroes who won with greatness (in black and white, yes) the first five Cups with Alfredo Di Stéfano at the helm, are responsible for the fact that Madrid has no history, but mythology.

The new generations brought the color, brightened the legend and deserve the same honor.

It should not be forgotten when Courtois flies from stick to stick;

when the invisible talent of Kroos contributes with each exact pass to the collective good;

when Modric waters the field with sweat;

when Vinicius, as in this last week, shows the physical and mental survival capacity of Robinson Crusoe;

when Benzema fills football itself with class... Two weeks ago a wonderful writer and an exemplary Madridista passed away: Javier Marías, whom we all fill with fair praise.

I would have liked to hear them before he left.

Nor would this Madrid deserve that injustice.

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