Digestion was complicated. We loosened the tie, unbuttoned the shirt and even removed the belt. And then, we expelled the overflow. After weeks of having eaten Mbappé morning, noon and evening in Madrid, supporters, followers or editorialists meringue had acid reflux when they learned on Sunday that the genius of Bondy would finally stay three more years in the French capital. The reproaches flared up, the insults came in small clusters and the PSG striker became almost persona non grata on the side of the Museo de la Reina Sofia.
The affair, which could have made the headlines for another month, until the rumor “it’s sure, Neymar will finally arrive at Real this summer” came to supplant it before the holidays, was however quickly put in the background. Because, it is possible, there was even more important that was looming: the Champions League final against Liverpool, this Saturday at the Stade de France. Yes, everyone had almost forgotten it with this true-false transfer.
Move along, nothing to see
“The press is always immediate: the news was Mbappé’s transfer and they thought there was time for the Champions League final, which was a week later, tells 20 minutes Lorenzo Sanz, son of Lorenzo Sanz Sr, the former president of Real Madrid. So there was clearly a priority. “However, the subject Mbappé was still on everyone’s lips on Tuesday during the pre-final media day organized at Valdebebas, Real Madrid’s training center.
Almost all the players were entitled to it, like Vinicius, interviewed on the show El Larguero, where he handled in a very beautiful way the language of wood: “It is a subject which we cannot speak now. Each player makes his decisions and he has decided to stay in Paris, period. I don’t know what Mbappé is thinking, I know what I’m thinking and I can’t talk about things I don’t know. » Pack, it is weighed.
“In the locker room, there is a certain tranquility”
“In the locker room, there is a certain tranquility on this subject and all the players prefer to talk about Liverpool than that”, assures us the journalist oface Sergio López de Vicente. Yet Josep Pedrerol, the inimitable animator ofThe Chiringuito, tried everything to get Karim Benzema to drop the flamethrower (violin, smoldering gaze, unbearable pauses, leading questions). But nothing worked. “Me, I’m quiet here, preparing for Saturday’s game, replied the child from Bron. Everyone should be focused on their area. »
And it is not players who have sent Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City home after scenarios that even David Cronenberg had not dared to imagine, who will be disturbed by this “act of the game”. “The players are used to hearing transfer rumors and I don’t think it can affect them for the final,” continues Lorenzo Sanz. With Benzema, in their relationship, it may change something. But players have the experience to overcome this problem. »
Instructions from above
“I found them really very serene, very calm compared to that, notes Patxi Vrignon-Etxezaharreta, sports journalist in Madrid for AFP, who attended the media day. The strength of this group is to have executives who have already played in the finals and who know how to reframe young people who could disperse, like during the comebacks, where Benzema remotivated everyone as soon as they conceded a goal. They can also count on a management that is there to calm everyone down and promote the institution.
Like when, on Sunday, after Kylian Mbappé’s announcement to stay at PSG, we saw many Real players post a message on their social networks for the Champions League final. “In my opinion, there are instructions that have been passed by the leaders, says Patxi Vrignon-Etxezaharreta. It is not insignificant that they all did this at the same time. It was a firefight lit by Real. »
“The Fetish Competition”
It remains, finally, to convince the supporters meringue, always eager to have the best players on the planet, that the non-arrival of Mbappé is ultimately not much compared to what awaits them. “Before the last match of the season against Betis, I did a micro-sidewalk to talk to them about the Champions League and Mbappé, tells us the AFP journalist. To the question “do you prefer to win a 14th LDC or have Mbappé for the next three seasons?”, they answered me unanimously: the title. It is quite significant of the importance of the C1 for the supporters. »
And Lorenzo Sanz, who will be at the Stade de France this Saturday with a good part of his family, can only agree, he whose father won two cups with big ears, in 1998 and 2000: “We are in seven finals won in seven finals played. This is our favorite competition. Real Madrid competition. »