1,012 days their days are numbered now:
88 left and counting down. By the time
the Final comes around, 14km across
town at the Metropolitano, they won’t be
in it.
“Here lies the team that made history,”
said the cover of Marca. No wonder the
touchline reporter suggested that this
was the end of an era.
“I don’t see it like that, but it is true
that this season is practically finished for
us,” said Carvajal. “We have to be
professional, we have to stand up, we
can’t hide. We know that we have had
a shit season and that’s it.”
As Carvajal delivered his judgement,
he felt his voice go and tears breaking
through, so without another word he
turned and walked away down the tunnel.
As he went, he walked past Santi Solari,
the Real Madrid coach who had stood
motionless in the background all the way
through the interview, not moving an
inch, glazed eyes lost somewhere in the
distance, transfixed nowhere in particular.
He knew it was over. “We’re sad, we’re
gutted,” he said. “We did all we could,
but it was not enough.”
Down in the dressing room, an
argument began. The club’s president
Florentino Perez accused the players –
largely the same players who won three
European Cups in three years, four in five- of lacking professionalism, of letting
them down. Sergio Ramos, the club
captain who had missed the match
through a suspension he had deliberately
sought, thinking the tie was all over after
a 2-1 first leg win, stood up to him and
defended his team-mates.
Ramos said that they were victims of
the club’s poor planning, which had left
them lacking a striker or the strength in
depth that they needed. The voices got
louder, the shouting began. At one point,
Perez threatened to kick Ramos out. “Pay
me and I’ll go,” the captain shot back.
Inside the stadium there had largely
been resignation, no great reaction.
Outside the stadium, egged on by TV
cameras, fans were chanting for changes:eyewitness
they wanted a clean out, a purge. They
also wanted the normal things that fans
tend to want in these situations: new
signings, more superstars, an iron fist, a
manager to whip them into shape.
Some chanted for Jose Mourinho, the
kind of personality that would come in
and tear it all up, start again, not indulge
the egos. And yet they knew the risks
there too; last time with the Portuguese
it had ended badly.
Inside the stadium, a phone call was
made, but it was not to Mourinho –
or not only to him. They rang Zinedine
Zidane too and asked him to come
back right away.
Madrid already knew that they would
need a new coach for next season; now
they decided that they needed him
straight away. Solari always knew that he
was unlikely to make it beyond the end
of the season; beaten by Ajax, he was
unlikely to make it much beyond the end
of the week.
As it turned out, Real Valladolid that
Sunday night would be his last game.
It had probably been the worst week in
Madrid’s history: all three competitions
gone in three home matches, eight goals
conceded and just one scored. There
could be no complaints, no excuses: they
just weren’t good enough.
So much had happened so fast and
All over...Santi Solari takes his place in the dugout as Real Madrid coach for the last time, against Real ValladolidIn charge...Zidane
takes training again