Chronicle The legend of Madrid takes Anfield and shakes hands again with the European Cup
Main characters Kroos' "I want to go", Benzema's premonition and Liverpool's resignation: "What happened? We played against Real Madrid"
Who was going to tell
Nacho Fernández
, with a lifetime at
Real Madrid
,
five Champions League
wins,
300 games
played, important in so many qualifiers, in so many different positions and captain at the final whistle of Tuesday's win at
Anfield Road
, that a Ramazani goal in Almería could be decisive in his career.
To know more
Champions League.
Kroos' "I want to go", Benzema's premonition and Liverpool's resignation: "What happened? We played against Real Madrid"
Drafting: ABRAHAM P. ROMERO (Special Envoy)Liverpool
Kroos' "I want to go", Benzema's premonition and Liverpool's resignation: "What happened? We played against Real Madrid"
That afternoon last August, on the very first matchday of
the League
and with Madrid still coming back from vacation, the forward of the Andalusian team stood out behind
Rüdiger
, just in front of Nacho, and faced Courtois's goal to score the 1-0.
It was a goal that did not cost the whites any points, capable of coming from behind to add the first win of the league season, but it did cost the youth player minutes.
From that moment until January 2023, Nacho did not start the League again.
He played 31 minutes against Mallorca at home and did not exceed ten in the five games in which he stepped on the league pitch.
Ancelotti
is not one to punish his footballers and even less those who are relevant in the dressing room, but the reality is that few in Valdebebas understand the treatment received by the central defender during the first months of the competition.
He was only a starter in the Champions League: in the
first leg against Leipzig
, in
Warsaw against Shakhtar
and on the
black night against the Germans
, Madrid's only defeat in Europe this year.
Four home games in four months
.
"I had a very bad time, I saw that
I didn't deserve that situation
," confessed the center-back in the mixed area of
Anfield Road
, where he opted for a serene sincerity that has troubled Real Madrid.
At
33 years old
and for almost the first time in his career, Nacho is seriously considering leaving the white team when his contract expires on June 30.
The difference with last season
"I don't want to send messages because my relationship with the club couldn't be better, but
at the beginning of the season a lot of things crossed my mind
," he said bluntly.
After almost equaling the minutes of
Mendy and Carvajal
last year (2,816 for the Frenchman, 2,598 for the right-back and 2,541 for him) and having started
three of the games against PSG, Chelsea and City
that led to the achievement of the Fourteenth in Paris, Nacho thought that his role this season would be similar and that he might even have
options to enter Luis Enrique's list for the World Cup
.
But everything went wrong.
Madrid opted for the hiring of
Antonio Rüdiger
and the youth squad player disappeared from the line-ups, staying out of the Real Madrid rotation and, consequently,
far from Qatar
.
Despite the
injuries to Mendy, Carvajal and Alaba
, throughout the season Ancelotti has preferred Rüdiger over Nacho.
The German is the fourth footballer most used by the coach, while the youth squad is the
15th
.
An untenable situation for him.
In Chamartín
they want to extend the footballer's contract
.
They consider him key in the dressing room, leader of the group of Spaniards along with Carvajal and Lucas, and vital to work on synergy with the homegrown players who come up from Castilla.
Because no one better than him, who
has been at Valdebebas since he was 10 years old
and who, if he agrees to continue, would become
Madrid's '
One Club Man ', to understand the entire process that the club undergoes from the subsidiary to the first team.
Nacho has been in everything: Castilla's promotion to Segunda, Leagues, Champions...
Dried up Salah
"
I haven't made a decision
," he announced in Liverpool, "but it won't affect whether I play everything or nothing between now and the end of the season. The club has confidence in me, but I haven't decided. It's
something personal and family
." , he admitted, also insisting that he felt "
disappointed
" for not starting in this type of match.
"In recent years my level has been good, at the level of my teammates, they are decisions of the coach."
At Anfield, Ancelotti required his services when Alaba was injured and had to take the field without warming up against a
Salah
who was destroying the Madrid defense.
And he dried him.
"
The difference has been Nacho
. He has been incredible", praised Klopp.
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Daniel Carvajal
Ferland Mendy
Thibaut Courtois
Luis Enrique
real Madrid