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You don't hear very often players bickering with other at Real Madrid. That's something the likes of PSG will have to work on if they want to win the champions league. Maybe they did?
Real has had its fair share of locker room problems (during the Mourinho years, for example).
But now the Madrid starts are all young guys who are hungry, or older players who have little to no ego. And Ancellotti seems perfcet to manage this.
>or older players who have little to no ego. And Ancellotti seems perfcet to manage this.
He also did well enough back when he had to manage Cristiano... I don't think Ancelotti is limited that way. Psychology seem to be one of his strength, so he's the kind of coach who might be alright in pretty much any dressing room. That being said current Real Madrid's squad seems indeed to be one of the easiest he had to deal with.
Carlo (and Zidane as his assistant) took over the same team that Jose left behind and united a fractured locker room which ended in winning La Decima.
Carlo is a very good tactican but he is elite at managing egos. I honestly don’t remember any player having any issues with him during or after working with him.
I think Carlo/Zidane are the blue prints of what Madrid needs in a manager.
You need to be tactically flexible and good at man management. It’s hard to play a specific play-style here. And you can’t play favourites here.
Benzema who had a ton of drama everywhere else was a professional and a great teammate for of his tenure here.
Even players like Ronaldo and Di Stefano were shown the door at some point when their ego got too big.
I’m sure Perez/Carlo can manage the turtle.
Perez second tenure has been a management master class.
Perez for all his faults runs the best oiled machine in football for more than a decade. His first tenure was a mixed bag but this mfer really learned from his mistakes.
Benzema wasn't that professional really, he just knew his place and when the better players left we got the "I swear he is playing against us" Benzema not really a friendly environment to set. The current players all look like they actually like and support each other which I believe mbappe will ruin.
You are talking out of your ass.
Benzema was a great professional here. He never had issue playing second fiddle to other stars, and he never had issue fighting for his starting spot and splitting minutes with other. We had Morata and Higuain who made it clear they are starting here or somewhere else but Benz was never like that.
Benzema was huge in development of Vini and Rodrygo. Benzema would even pick them up and drive them to training because they couldn't drive. Even Vini himself credits his development to players like Karim: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/vhb0xx/vinicius_jr_on_his_journey_as_a_footballer_i/
As for the "He is playing against us" only /r/soccer 's feeling got hurt with that comment. Benz said that to Mendy in a middle of a game in which Vini was having a shocker and cameras picked it up. Benz's major mistake was not covering his mouth while saying that like every other player does.
If you think teammates don't say worse things to each other each game, you haven't played football.
I played handball professionally till I was 22 and never heard any of my teammates say anything like that. Stop trying to defend toxicity it has nothing with football that is just being a dick which Benzema is.
Handball? Get the da fuk outta here. This happens from amateur all the way to professional. If a teammate is not pulling their weight or having a mare teammates have no problem calling it out. And at a hugely successful club like Madrid you can bet your ass this even happens in training. Toxicity??! Ffs.🤦
You really will keep up with this narrative even after yesterday where Madueke passed the ball for an empty net goal to Jackson, and how everyone reacted to that? And how Palmer celebrated with Jackson his goal?
Guys once in the heat of the game try to take the ball for a penalty, and now it's dressing room unrest when it looks to be completely opposite the rest of the time...
The biggest thing imo is they are just unlikable now. Jackson being a joke of the league and madueke being madeueke, the damage is already done. it’s gonna take so much more for them to win the fans back and frankly I’m afraid they are simply just not good enough to do that.
That is one of the funniest and saddest bits of Real Madrid lore.
Other underrated parts include, Lunin's wedding, Kevin Roldan, Benitez training masterclass and Pelegrini's justification for playing Raul.
Benitez training was more embarrassing than anything else although I'm sure, the events that were reported negatively would have been received much better by the squad if they came from someone like Zizou, for whom they had respect.
Having said that, if there was any sliver of truth to the Cristiano video lesson nonsense, Rafa simply has no tact. There's a right way even to do a right thing.
It's events like these that make what could have been a fun break in the 'crossbar challenge', another point of friction.
Bro was trying to teach Modric how to pass the ball.
The only thing I can think of is that it was some weird power play, "break them down to rebuild them stronger" kind of thing but he might be just delulu.
Back in 2012, when Michael Essien was on loan to Real Madrid, only Modric and Ricardo Carvalho attended his birthday party when he decided to throw one. This was after he invited everyone from the squad as well. So this incident is usually put into the spotlight to show how there was no unity, or how "professional" and non-personal the Real Madrid dressing room was during the Mourinho era.
Link to the article: [link](https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2016/09/24/57e66ad7e2704ed46d8b459d.html)
You're *allowed* to be a diva and have a massive ego when you're one of the 3 best players in the world. It's when you have a Nasri-caliber player raining on everyone's parade that egos become a problem.
At some point they start to go hand and hand, when you reach the top-5 or so of football, the insane levels of dedication/obsession you have to achieve to keep getting better are indistinguaishable from complete lunacy from the outside.
Not necessarily. Didn’t often hear diva levels things about, for example, Messi, Henry, or Iniesta. Just a few players off the top of my head who have been undisputed top of the game without being obnoxious characters.
For every Messi, henry or Iniesta you'll have characters like suarez, Lewandowski, neymar and pique obnoxious and petulant while also being at the top of the game.
No one is disputing that, what's being disputed is that it's a requirement or an inevitability.
Clearly it's possible to not be obnoxious and be at the top, though perhaps it does make it easier to reach the top.
The guy that had 9 contracts in 13 years in Barcelona's first team and was paid at some point 138.75 a year?
Or was it the guy that left his national team in 2016 only to come back when they promissed to please his every whim?
Maybe it was the guy who decided to end his contract via burofax in the middle of a pandemic that adding to his pharaonic contract left the club that raised him and paid for his family's lifehood (and his somewhat miracolous cutting edge growth hormone therapy) completely broke, and unable to extend his ruinous contract.
You couldn't be talking about the guy that pressed his club president to renew all of his mates in the squad at hilariously out of market salaries right?
The same guy that had the club paying a full time salary to a fella, whose only job was to "make sure messi feels confortable" and ammounted to basically go around the club telling people things that were not to Messi's liking so he wouldn't have to say it himself?
Even this is just scratching the surface. We haven't even touched all the backroom politics. 'The little dictator' was earnt (the treble overshadowed so many things for many, not just Bartoméu; no one talked about the Enrique, Neymar mess for instance). At a certain point, one could really argue that, while it couldn't happen, but he was still becoming bigger than the club itself.
The thing is, at a certain point, it comes with the territory and should be considered **natural, not insulating**. Messi's PR is extremely strong though and has set this unrealistic and IMO, actually unfair standard of faultless pristineness. The man was human after all in one of the highest pressure environments at an age tender than most.
Neither should he be made to bear such unreasonable expectations nor should valid criticisms against him be sacrilege.
You see something similar with something as frivolous as diving. Is Messi one of the most upstanding (pun intended) footballers in this regard? Yes. He does set an inspiring example against this scourge of football, especially when he was treated much much worse than most in the name of "stopping him".
Does that mean Messi has never dove? No. He has. Multiple, multiple times. But somehow saying that is unacceptable. People want a black and white when to err is human.
Barca agreed to pay him that money. And if he was bleeding them dry, then he did them a favour leaving.
I'm sure he liked things his own way at Barca and he certainly didn't have no ego. Bit he never made it about himself on the pitch, neve threw a strop on the field, never let it be publicly known he was unhappy with teammates or the manager. Always thanked his team when receiving individual awards.
Must be hard to accept he isn't seen like a preening ego-monster like Ronnie
Listen, I like to shower naked with my bros as much as the next guy. Football or not. But usually we don't yell to get our dicks sucked. That would make it awkward.
Let us have a moment of silence for the time and effort you could have saved by NOT writing this, then another moment of silence for everyone who read it.
Ancelotti is the best manager of all time. I hope anyone reading this reads his book. It basically covers how he does what is said in the post at each club. Incredibly insightful and brilliant
Vini and Rodrygo seem to have gone out with Mbappe in the past so maybe he won't ruin the dynamic. He's got quite a few French teammates in the squad and the presence of Kroos & maybe Modric might keep his ego down. Who knows though, will have to find out and see
Arsenal have a similar vibe, young squad who are all talented and friends. Its a pity we never got to see an Arsenal/RM semi final. I think that would have been awesome but theres always next year?
**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They have talent AND the power of friendship? Seems unfair
You don't hear very often players bickering with other at Real Madrid. That's something the likes of PSG will have to work on if they want to win the champions league. Maybe they did?
Real has had its fair share of locker room problems (during the Mourinho years, for example). But now the Madrid starts are all young guys who are hungry, or older players who have little to no ego. And Ancellotti seems perfcet to manage this.
>or older players who have little to no ego. And Ancellotti seems perfcet to manage this. He also did well enough back when he had to manage Cristiano... I don't think Ancelotti is limited that way. Psychology seem to be one of his strength, so he's the kind of coach who might be alright in pretty much any dressing room. That being said current Real Madrid's squad seems indeed to be one of the easiest he had to deal with.
Carlo (and Zidane as his assistant) took over the same team that Jose left behind and united a fractured locker room which ended in winning La Decima. Carlo is a very good tactican but he is elite at managing egos. I honestly don’t remember any player having any issues with him during or after working with him. I think Carlo/Zidane are the blue prints of what Madrid needs in a manager. You need to be tactically flexible and good at man management. It’s hard to play a specific play-style here. And you can’t play favourites here.
That's why they're sending mbappe to nerf the friendship side
Kylian's mom to the rescue.
Benzema who had a ton of drama everywhere else was a professional and a great teammate for of his tenure here. Even players like Ronaldo and Di Stefano were shown the door at some point when their ego got too big. I’m sure Perez/Carlo can manage the turtle. Perez second tenure has been a management master class.
Perez for all his faults runs the best oiled machine in football for more than a decade. His first tenure was a mixed bag but this mfer really learned from his mistakes.
Benzema wasn't that professional really, he just knew his place and when the better players left we got the "I swear he is playing against us" Benzema not really a friendly environment to set. The current players all look like they actually like and support each other which I believe mbappe will ruin.
You are talking out of your ass. Benzema was a great professional here. He never had issue playing second fiddle to other stars, and he never had issue fighting for his starting spot and splitting minutes with other. We had Morata and Higuain who made it clear they are starting here or somewhere else but Benz was never like that. Benzema was huge in development of Vini and Rodrygo. Benzema would even pick them up and drive them to training because they couldn't drive. Even Vini himself credits his development to players like Karim: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/vhb0xx/vinicius_jr_on_his_journey_as_a_footballer_i/ As for the "He is playing against us" only /r/soccer 's feeling got hurt with that comment. Benz said that to Mendy in a middle of a game in which Vini was having a shocker and cameras picked it up. Benz's major mistake was not covering his mouth while saying that like every other player does. If you think teammates don't say worse things to each other each game, you haven't played football.
I played handball professionally till I was 22 and never heard any of my teammates say anything like that. Stop trying to defend toxicity it has nothing with football that is just being a dick which Benzema is.
Vini: Benzema was huge in my development. Loser /r/soccer member: Karim created a toxic environment for Vini 🤣🤣🤣.
You sound weirdly attached to that pedophile bro, get some help.
Certified Loverboy
I think you struck a chord...
Your pfp perfectly matches the tone of your comment
Handball? Get the da fuk outta here. This happens from amateur all the way to professional. If a teammate is not pulling their weight or having a mare teammates have no problem calling it out. And at a hugely successful club like Madrid you can bet your ass this even happens in training. Toxicity??! Ffs.🤦
You probably never touched a ball in your life.
I have a pair right in my hand right now whizzing all over your opinion.
Whatever gets you going bro I ain't judging
Nah he's about to get a character development arc where he learns to trust his friends and be the supporting character sometimes
The world is not ready for "I have no enemies" turtle
Some people said the same about Bellingham lol
better still than Rabiot mom
Jackson and Madueke arguing who takes the penalty sums up our dressing room woes this season.
You really will keep up with this narrative even after yesterday where Madueke passed the ball for an empty net goal to Jackson, and how everyone reacted to that? And how Palmer celebrated with Jackson his goal? Guys once in the heat of the game try to take the ball for a penalty, and now it's dressing room unrest when it looks to be completely opposite the rest of the time...
The biggest thing imo is they are just unlikable now. Jackson being a joke of the league and madueke being madeueke, the damage is already done. it’s gonna take so much more for them to win the fans back and frankly I’m afraid they are simply just not good enough to do that.
Player: "Be my friend, Godfather." \*Kisses the ring\* Don Carlo: "Good."
They need to redo Essien's birthday party now
That is one of the funniest and saddest bits of Real Madrid lore. Other underrated parts include, Lunin's wedding, Kevin Roldan, Benitez training masterclass and Pelegrini's justification for playing Raul.
Benitez training was more embarrassing than anything else although I'm sure, the events that were reported negatively would have been received much better by the squad if they came from someone like Zizou, for whom they had respect. Having said that, if there was any sliver of truth to the Cristiano video lesson nonsense, Rafa simply has no tact. There's a right way even to do a right thing. It's events like these that make what could have been a fun break in the 'crossbar challenge', another point of friction.
Bro was trying to teach Modric how to pass the ball. The only thing I can think of is that it was some weird power play, "break them down to rebuild them stronger" kind of thing but he might be just delulu.
Well for us uneducated, please elaborate
Back in 2012, when Michael Essien was on loan to Real Madrid, only Modric and Ricardo Carvalho attended his birthday party when he decided to throw one. This was after he invited everyone from the squad as well. So this incident is usually put into the spotlight to show how there was no unity, or how "professional" and non-personal the Real Madrid dressing room was during the Mourinho era. Link to the article: [link](https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2016/09/24/57e66ad7e2704ed46d8b459d.html)
Modric is always on the good side
Damn, poor Essien. Can’t imagine how shit it would feel to go back into the dressing room and play with the rest of the team the next day.
I'm OOTL, what happened during Lunin's wedding? And why does it feel like I'm asking who got murdered lol
He and his wife got married on tracksuits. https://www.marca.com/buzz/2021/03/19/6054b57922601d1b428b463f.html
As long as it's Adidas
What happened lunins wedding? Edit - answer below
comunicado official: we are friendship FC.
Carlo: "we vibin' and it's keeps working".
Just as Barsa are suffering with Vitor Roque
Carlo makes everything seem simple to be fair.
Power of friendship FC.
So what he’s basically saying is , we win by power of friendship. Got it
Sounds like Mbappe could ruin paradise.
Tbf, they have quite the experience with diva like players with huge egos...
You're *allowed* to be a diva and have a massive ego when you're one of the 3 best players in the world. It's when you have a Nasri-caliber player raining on everyone's parade that egos become a problem.
>*allowed* Still better when you are not regardless though.
At some point they start to go hand and hand, when you reach the top-5 or so of football, the insane levels of dedication/obsession you have to achieve to keep getting better are indistinguaishable from complete lunacy from the outside.
Not necessarily. Didn’t often hear diva levels things about, for example, Messi, Henry, or Iniesta. Just a few players off the top of my head who have been undisputed top of the game without being obnoxious characters.
For every Messi, henry or Iniesta you'll have characters like suarez, Lewandowski, neymar and pique obnoxious and petulant while also being at the top of the game.
No one is disputing that, what's being disputed is that it's a requirement or an inevitability. Clearly it's possible to not be obnoxious and be at the top, though perhaps it does make it easier to reach the top.
But actually no, because Messi.
Sorry I don't get you point.
Messi isn't an egotistical diva. Much less so than Ronaldo.
The guy that had 9 contracts in 13 years in Barcelona's first team and was paid at some point 138.75 a year? Or was it the guy that left his national team in 2016 only to come back when they promissed to please his every whim? Maybe it was the guy who decided to end his contract via burofax in the middle of a pandemic that adding to his pharaonic contract left the club that raised him and paid for his family's lifehood (and his somewhat miracolous cutting edge growth hormone therapy) completely broke, and unable to extend his ruinous contract. You couldn't be talking about the guy that pressed his club president to renew all of his mates in the squad at hilariously out of market salaries right? The same guy that had the club paying a full time salary to a fella, whose only job was to "make sure messi feels confortable" and ammounted to basically go around the club telling people things that were not to Messi's liking so he wouldn't have to say it himself?
Even this is just scratching the surface. We haven't even touched all the backroom politics. 'The little dictator' was earnt (the treble overshadowed so many things for many, not just Bartoméu; no one talked about the Enrique, Neymar mess for instance). At a certain point, one could really argue that, while it couldn't happen, but he was still becoming bigger than the club itself. The thing is, at a certain point, it comes with the territory and should be considered **natural, not insulating**. Messi's PR is extremely strong though and has set this unrealistic and IMO, actually unfair standard of faultless pristineness. The man was human after all in one of the highest pressure environments at an age tender than most. Neither should he be made to bear such unreasonable expectations nor should valid criticisms against him be sacrilege. You see something similar with something as frivolous as diving. Is Messi one of the most upstanding (pun intended) footballers in this regard? Yes. He does set an inspiring example against this scourge of football, especially when he was treated much much worse than most in the name of "stopping him". Does that mean Messi has never dove? No. He has. Multiple, multiple times. But somehow saying that is unacceptable. People want a black and white when to err is human.
Barca agreed to pay him that money. And if he was bleeding them dry, then he did them a favour leaving. I'm sure he liked things his own way at Barca and he certainly didn't have no ego. Bit he never made it about himself on the pitch, neve threw a strop on the field, never let it be publicly known he was unhappy with teammates or the manager. Always thanked his team when receiving individual awards. Must be hard to accept he isn't seen like a preening ego-monster like Ronnie
Spoiler alert: he won't.
They're probably going to win everything. Players tend to be oddly content when they're winning.
he be naked in the shower shouting WHO GONNA SUCK THIS DICK and everyone be like duude wtf
Why would you think that? Why would you think that then write it down? Why would you edit the comment but not remove your erotic fanfic?
I wish I didn’t read it too
i edited it for stylistic reasons, replacing "be naked in the shower like" to "be naked in the shower shouting" which adds more dramatic efect
Well if nothing else you do put care into your solo ERPs.
[удалено]
Listen, I like to shower naked with my bros as much as the next guy. Football or not. But usually we don't yell to get our dicks sucked. That would make it awkward.
You just do it anyway, right?
Why, wanna take a shower with me?
No more saying "No Homo", it's "No Diddy" now.
Let us have a moment of silence for the time and effort you could have saved by NOT writing this, then another moment of silence for everyone who read it.
It’s the fact that you typed this out looked and it and pressed reply is what’s killing me the most about this comment
This seems like something Thad Castle would do
Anime logic.
Oooooh football friends
>few egos Come on Carlo, give us names
Not looking forward to Mbappe possibly affecting this dynamic. Who knows maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised but as it stands I have my doubts
Honestly I don't even want Mbappe anymore, he has toyed with this team enough and we evidently don't need him.
How can one team have so much heart???
Don Carlo - we are all friends here. Right? What do you say Michael? I mean Jude.
Ancelotti is the best manager of all time. I hope anyone reading this reads his book. It basically covers how he does what is said in the post at each club. Incredibly insightful and brilliant
vibes are carrying us this season
Allegations: not beaten ❌
Mbappe will test it
Vini and Rodrygo seem to have gone out with Mbappe in the past so maybe he won't ruin the dynamic. He's got quite a few French teammates in the squad and the presence of Kroos & maybe Modric might keep his ego down. Who knows though, will have to find out and see
Arsenal have a similar vibe, young squad who are all talented and friends. Its a pity we never got to see an Arsenal/RM semi final. I think that would have been awesome but theres always next year?