Madrid keeps its English saga alive

No one remembers such a long saga and so far perfectly resolved by the Real Madrid. In it Bernabeu played in front of Manchester City the tenth consecutive game with English rivals in the qualifiers and final of the Champions League. Last year it was measured with the Chelsea and Manchester City in the two rounds that preceded the final against Liverpool. This season, Madrid have eliminated Liverpool in the round of 16, Chelsea in the quarterfinals and the decision in Manchester on the semifinal with City is pending, after the draw at the Bernabéu. Four heats, one final, the possibility of another, the European Cup is drawing an absolutely clear landscape in football: Real Madrid against the Premier League.

Until now, he has emerged victorious in a struggle that exceeds the strict value of the results. At a time when the English championship was at its peak, supported by a flood of investments that is unmatched on the international scene, Madrid has become an almost insurmountable obstacle. In 2018 and in 2022, they defeated the mighty Liverpool of Kloppswept this season in Anfield and eliminated in Madrid. Something similar has happened with Chelsea, flooded with millions of pounds and a multitude of signings for its new American owners.

It is clear that the most consistent rival on the English scene is Manchester City, the only one that regularly reaches the semifinals, but is still without the title. In the first leg of this semifinal, they played an interesting game, well done, but not exceptional. The two teams expressed some of their best qualities at different stages of the match, never letting their hair down.

Both Madrid and City managed their emotions and found a way to survive the best moments of the other. the goal of vinicius closed the half of almost absolute control of the English team. The right hand of Kevin de Bruyne punished an imprudence of Camavinga when Madrid offered its best and most elegant version. Two different identities -Manchester is the team of methodical continuity and Madrid is the king of adaptation to the moments- were replicated in an atmosphere of a great night, the most anticipated of the year at the Bernabéu.

The Premier has money and prestige, good or very good teams, enormous media coverage and an air of power that scares everyone except Real Madrid. He explains it with the routine of his successes in Europe and the balance of his confrontations with the English teams. In this chapter, it is a team that escapes from the margins of Spanish football, whose prestige has decreased in the international arena.

In a season in which the Atletico Madrid and the Barça They were eliminated from the group league, Madrid remains where it is used to. They have won 14 editions of the European Cup, five of them in the last nine years, and they feel that this territory belongs to them. He defends it, of course, with a collection of phenomenal players, perfectly blended. To the best of a generation that refuses to decline –Benzema, Modric, Kroos– a good part of the best of the new harvest is added –Vinicius, Rodrygo y Camavinga– and a sensational goalkeeper.

Guardiola He hinted at the press conference that the current Madrid is superior to that of the previous season. He is right, despite the poor run in the League, where he was abandoned after the defeat against Barça in March. However, the team has reserved peak moments in the Camp Nou -semifinal of Copa– y Anfield, scene of a memorable exhibition. That natural, ingenious and fluid version emerged in some moments of the second half, in the same way that City’s hypnotic display was expressed in the opening half, without the threat of Haalanddisabled by Ruediger y Alabawhich cleared up the doubts that had hung over the efficiency of the central defenders in recent weeks.