The vice-captain was taken to hospital for stitches having been laid out by his midfield partner. Another midfielder said he wouldnât play any more; as if he was going to play anyway. The manager wasnât asking for much, just that they didnât swan out there as if wearing tuxedos, and thatâs still asking too much. The centre-back hit the left-back. The winger fell out with the last coach. The captain fell out with this coach. And the superstar, already accused of not caring, swanning off to Sardinia, drives out of the training ground, past the cameras and away from the whole sorry mess, laughing his head off. Now hereâs Barcelona.
You think things canât get any worse but things can always get worse. The most painful week anyone could remember, maybe the biggest, most public crisis they have ever had, concludes with Real Madrid travelling to the Camp Nou on Sunday for the clĂĄsico. If they donât win, and few believe they can given the football they play and the faultlines that run through their dressing room, they will watch Barcelona become champions with three games left, going down as the flames go higher and history is made. It would be the first time in 94 years a meeting of sportâs great rivals decides the title â only this title has long been decided, both cause and consequence of the turmoil Madrid are in.
Both players were fined âŹ500,000 each and face disciplinary action from the club following their altercation.
How long will Fede Valverde be sidelined from playing?
Valverde is expected to be out of action for 10 to 14 days due to medical protocols following his injury.
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The club did not back Alonso, his authority undone, and as results slipped there was an inescapable sense that he was on borrowed time right until the point at which he was sacked after losing the Spanish Super Cup final against Barcelona in January. Pep Guardiola had advised him to do it his own way but that was not so easy. Ultimately, Alonso had been beaten by a culture he couldnât change, a president who rarely believes in any manager, not providing him the authority or time to complete the very task he had been asked to undertake. Not only had a coach gone but an opportunity was lost.
Xabi Alonso wears his runners-up medal after Real Madrid lost the Super Cup final to Barcelona in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 11 January
Xabi Alonso wears his runners-up medal after Real Madrid lost the Super Cup final to Barcelona in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 11 January. It was his last game before he was sacked. Photograph: Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images
Arbeloa was a club man, the presidentâs man, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage. Promoted early, he was said to have one job: to keep the players on side. Over-simplistic, sure, unfair on him too, but there was something in it. EduardoCamavinga even said so. âWith these kind of players, all you need to do is make them happy,â the midfielder told ESPN, revealing that some days the coach would bring them doughnuts after training. Arbeloa meanwhile said he had a grey couch in his office where they could come to talk. âI couldnât connect with Xabi Alonso; I have a special connection with Arbeloa,â VinĂcius said.
But that wasnât unanimous either. The diagnosis was too simplistic. They had to compete too, to commit, to build something that would work. They had to work. âThis is Real Madrid,â Arbeloa kept saying but that was part of the problem; âthe project is to win, win, win and win again,â he said, but it didnât happen: he has been beaten seven times. Accommodating everyone was impossible and if keeping them happy was the aim, if satisfying everyone was something to aspire to, that didnât happen either. Nor was it a guarantee of respect: for the coach or for each other.
Jefte Betancor celebrates scoring Albaceteâs third goal as the knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey on 14 January.
Jefte Betancor celebrates scoring Albaceteâs third goal as the knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey on 14 January, with Fede Valverde among the stunned visiting players. Photograph: Diego Souto/Getty Images
Instead Madrid were knocked out of the cup by second division Albacete on Arbeloaâs debut. There were European moments where it seemed the coach might find some sort of solution â he got the better of Guardiola and Mourinho â but that only heightened the suspicion that some players choose their games, when to try, that failure was at some level a choice. Knocked out of the Champions League in Munich, domestically they won only one of four games in April, all those structural problems unresolved and tensions increasing as the title slipped away, the season done. Amid the collapse came the scramble to safety, the search for someone (else) to blame, the summary justice, the lid coming off the stories.
And so it goes. The last time Madrid and Barcelona met in the league, Madrid won 2-1; they had won nine of 10 league games and were five points clear. This Sunday they meet again and, 11 points ahead, Barcelona are on the edge of winning La Liga. Madrid meanwhile are just on the edge, wanting nothing more than for it to be over now but wishing it wasnât here. âWe will fight to the end,â Arbeloa said, and this is it. And it is very, very bitter.