Barely inducted and already introduced. The new Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa, appointed Monday to replace his ex-teammate Xabi Alonso on the Madrid bench, held his first press conference on Tuesday, assuring that he would lead the team with “the ambition to fight to win everything”.
“I’m not afraid of failure, I never had it. But I will be myself, Alvaro Arbeloa, because if I tried to be (José) Mourinho, I would fail,” he said, revealing to have been “greatly influenced” by the Portuguese tactician, his coach from 2010 to 2013 with the Merengues.
The 2010 world champion, until now coach of the Real reserve team, where he won everything as a player between 2009 and 2016, said he was “aware” of the challenge that awaits him at the head of the Spanish giant, as he prepares to lead his first match this Wednesday, January 14, during the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey against Albacete (9 p.m.).
“Fight to win all the titles”
“I’m 42 years old, I’ll be 43 this weekend, and I’ve spent 20 years of my life here, in this house. And I will stay there as long as they want me. I know what it’s like to be a Real Madrid player, I know what it’s like to win here, and what that entails,” said the former right-back, winner of two Champions Leagues, one La Liga and two Copa del Rey within “the White House”.
“We still have the whole season ahead of us. We are well placed in La Liga (2nd, four points behind Barça) and in the Champions League (7th in the League phase). The objective is to ensure that the players are happy, that they have fun on the pitch, being aware of the enormous privilege that we all have, and with the ambition to fight to win all possible titles. »
Appointed on Monday to replace his ex-teammate and friend Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa wanted his team to take “a new start”, where all the players will start “from scratch”. Asked about the atmosphere in the Madrid locker room, described as toxic and corrupted by the echoes of the big stars having pushed Alonso to leave according to several Spanish media, the new boss of the Merengues wanted to procrastinate. “The squad is not only made up of great professionals and great footballers, with enormous talent, but they are all good guys. They want to do things well,” he said.
He perhaps gave a first indication of his approach by calling into the first team five young players trained at the club he had under his command just a few hours ago. Some of them could play their first professional minutes on Wednesday in the Copa del Rey against Albacete (D2), in the absence of Kylian Mbappé, left to rest on Tuesday, Rodrygo, Antonio Rüdiger, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Eder Militao and Ferland Mendy.
