Real Madrid vs Albacete: Predicted Lineup – Copa del Rey

Since you had to start somewhere before cup match against Albacete, Alvaro Arbeloa He began his career on the bench of the first team of the Real Madrid from madridismo. It is the most recognizable thing about the new white coach: the excitement and demand of being a madridista and that he represented especially since he was under the command of Mourinhowhen they had to be placed almost inevitably on one of the two sides of the lines. At that time, Real Madrid split in two, but only one believed he was leading it. Now, without Cainite fights, Arbeloa tries to represent everyone and, from there, recover what has been lost in Ancelotti’s last year and in these irregular and disappointing months of Xabi Alonso. He wants his Real Madrid to be… Madridista: «Winning with this shield can only be done based on values ​​such as sacrifice, effort and perseverance. This has led Real Madrid to be the best club in history and to have the best record in world football. That’s what these players have,” he explained. And he said it to the footballers on his first day: «I told them this morning that the best stage of my life has been being a player of the Real Madrid. They have to enjoy it and they are very self-demanding,” he continued.

This was the first day

On his first day, before the cameras that recorded the beginning of training, Alvaro Arbeloa He was discreet, giving the spotlight to Pintus; and later, before the media, he was friendly, responding calmly, without showing much and greeting the journalists with his name, to show closeness.

But he begins, in Albacete, a challenge that will forever mark his life as a coach and his life in general.: build a team that was helplessly slipping away from a coach with the experiences of Carlo Ancelotti and who never caught up with Xabi Alonso, who had triumphed in Germany. Arbeloa arrives without experience in the elite, but Zidane also landed like this one January and we already know how the following springs ended. Albacete is too early, but the following matches will show what wood the team is made of. Álvaro Arbeloa coach.

In an interview in Jot Down in 2014, when he had already trained him Mourinhothe footballer Arbeloa told a scene in the locker room: «We realize who Mourinho is one day during preseason. We Spaniards had just become world champions and we joined in Los Angeles. There we played a game against the Galaxy and at halftime we scored 2-0. The screams he let out from that mouth! Of all of them, not one was saved. We learned quickly who he was. You couldn’t imagine Pellegrini yelling at Cristiano like that. We remember a lot about that talk. He said: «Don’t you want to run? No problem for me: bench. You neither? No problem for me: out. “To whoever: the world champions, Kaká or a youth player.”

More Arbeloa than Mourinho

On his first day he admitted his admiration for Mourinhobut he denied being him. “I would fail if I wanted to be him,” he said when the inevitable question about the Portuguese arrived.

In principle, he wants the competitive nerve of Mourinho without their need to live against. His Real Madrid fandom serves as a common link with the locker room, with the board and with the stands, but he knows that, as soon as the ball rolls, that language is translated into a single verb that is used at the Bernabéu: win. Hence his presentation, he repeated it: «This club is about winning, winning and winning again. That demand shows the DNA… and the display cases full of trophies. It is what has brought us here, what has led us to have this record and the full showcases. When I was a player I received those values ​​from the people who were in that locker room. They are still present in the locker room and that is the important thing. “It’s my job and what I’m going to live for every day,” he said.

If you don’t win, there will be no patience; If he wins, many will deny him recognition: «It is difficult for them to ever recognize that they have played well… here there have been coaches who have won three Champions Leagues and it was because when they finished training they went home to water the garden,” he said, referring to the usual criticism that came at Zidane.

Involve the footballers

And for that he needs the footballers to feel involved, something that has not happened in recent months. The names of the most unruly and opposed to Xabi Alonso are circulating everywhere. Xabi, let us remember, is one of Arbeloa’s best friends. «All the players with me start from scratch. It’s a new beginning. There is no more,” he continued, already thinking about Albacete: “It is a new beginning for everyone and we are aware that we have to win, the difficulty and what it means to play a one-match tie. “I have seen everyone with great desire and enthusiasm to have a great season and for everything to go well for us.”

And to count on them, you can only demand of them if you really earn them, if they enjoy it. That mix is ​​not easy. «In the end the important thing is them, that they can express themselves, enjoy the field and that they are happy. Wearing this shield is the best thing that can happen to you in life and it is a huge privilege for everyone.», he pointed out. “I know what it is to win and the happiness we transmit to the millions of fans we have in the world.”

His first line-up against Albacete in the Copa del Rey

Now we need to know how he is going to play. Until now, in the club’s youth categories, the blackboard has moved habitually with three midfielders and three attacking playerswith a team like him: feisty, wanting to command, but being more vertical than positional with the ball. That is what he wants, what he has done when the footballers were not, in any way, more important than him. Another thing is how he can express his ideas in Madrid. The coach who has tried to build his team under pressure has changed his mind sooner or later.

Albacete is the first episode of a new season in Madrid. We may be facing a “spin-off” (those series that are born with the secondary parts of other series) of Mourinho’s Madrid. Now, everything has to be done.

Arbeloa’s first for Real Madrid

Lunin; Carvajal, Raul Assure, Hujjsen, Fran Garcia; Tchomeni, Camavinga, Güler; Masttuon, Vinicus and Gonzalo.