Carlo Ancelotti already warned a year and a half ago that football is not as simple as stacking names. “[In 2023-24] we won the League and Champions, and that summer the best player in the world [Kylian Mbappé] arrives. Everyone thinks it will be a walk in the park. One plus one is two. But one plus one is not always two in football.” The Italian issued this warning in December 2024, almost quietly during a brief moment of calm within a campaign that was showing all the precariousness of a team that now, 16 months later and beyond the refereeing complaints from Munich, faces a very delicate and uncertain future, about to close its second consecutive season without major titles. Both of Mbappé.
In Valdebebas, they proposed this Thursday a period of calm and reflection to think about the many fronts that the crisis has opened. They understand that the level of the squad allowed for better results, although they assume that they may have to intervene again with new signings. One of the points under debate is the future of Álvaro Arbeloa, who has made some decisions in the lineups that have not fully satisfied the offices and who has not improved Xabi Alonso’s results.
The coach, whose environment admitted two days before the meeting with Bayern that being eliminated reduced his chances of continuing, reiterated in the press room of the Allianz Arena that he was a soldier of the house and would not put up any objections. When his promotion to the first team was announced in January, the club did not clarify for how long he signed. Of the 21 matches he has managed, he has lost seven.
The days of reflection affect a dressing room that the last three coaches have complained about for selecting efforts. The bet on the Vinicius-Mbappé duo, however, does not seem in doubt, according to what is hinted from the club, although it remains pending that the connection is fine-tuned after two improvable seasons. As for the contracts ending this summer, Alaba will not continue, Rüdiger is expected to renew for one year, and there are doubts about Carvajal.
While the offices reflect and review the moment, the Bernabéu awaits everyone next Tuesday, against Alavés. The match will be a key moment in the plot to know how far the people’s anger goes. Since January, a large majority of the stadium has risen against the players on two occasions and a sector of the amphitheater has pointed to the box. In the minutes before the match against Levante, the afternoon of the monumental booing, visibly nervous club members went to the leaders of the supporters’ section, controlled by the club, to try to find a cushioning point before the big uproar that was expected.
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Fewer goals with Kylian
The image of the bench in Munich, with more than 170 million spent last summer without a place in the starting eleven (Mastantuono, Huijsen, and Carreras), symbolized the twisted lines of Madrid, which recorded its 26th defeat in the last two seasons (almost one every four matches), when it had only two in the previous one. The reinforcements in defense appear green or disconnected, and in midfield they are still waiting for a playmaker, although the big question, almost existential in nature, is the coexistence on the pitch of Vinicius and Mbappé. In the seven recent matches that the Frenchman did not play due to injury, or only appeared in the final minutes, the Brazilian scored five goals. However, in the next four in which Kylian started, the winger has remained scoreless.
The weight of both against the Bavarians, an opponent who suffers behind them, has again confirmed that the mix does not click. Between the two, they have accumulated 20 shots in the entire tie and only Mbappé scored two goals, below what he should have achieved according to Opta’s expected goals calculation (2.5). The Frenchman, pointed out as the keystone of the project, offers a very paradoxical situation: he has 40 goals (only three players — Cristiano, Lewandowski, and Benzema — had scored 15 like him in a Champions edition), although his integration in the team’s circuits leaves many moments of disconnection. His individual production reaches extraordinary levels, but the team’s has even slightly dropped: 2.3 goals per game in 2023-24 (without him) and 2.2 in the next two (with him).
Vini’s renewal
Meanwhile, Vini, to whom the Bernabéu dedicated in January a booing like no player had remembered in the modern era and has continued to receive sporadic whistles, left Germany with zero dribbles and the lament of wasting the 2-4 in a very clear chance in the second half. The Brazilian is eight months away from becoming a free agent if he does not renew a contract that expires in 2027 beforehand.
The insufficient mix of both exemplifies better than any other case, as Carletto warned, that one plus one sometimes is not two. The matter affects the nervous system of a team built from the hierarchies of its stars. “If you are going to take out one of the forwards, make sure you are going to win all the matches 4-0,” commented a source with direct access to Valdebebas a few months ago.
