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At [link="http://www.eurofootball.com"]EuroFootball.com[/link] portal - the section "Fan Thoughts"! Before the most important, interesting, and highly anticipated matches, we address the fans who support the clubs entering the field.
Forum member Vadimas, who supports the Madrid team, talks about the upcoming match against Mallorca, the disagreements between Valdano and Mourinho, and the possible arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Madrid "Real" - "Mallorca"
In this match, "Real" will start the second round of the championships. The Madrid club is in second place, while "Mallorca" is in ninth. In the first half of the season, the two teams separated amicably after a tough and unpleasant match for the spectators. Today, the 'Royal' club's opponents are the only ones who have taken points from both "Real" and "Barcelona."
The meetings between these clubs are always intense and hard to predict. In the past decade, "Mallorca" achieved several very impressive victories in Madrid, with the most notable contributions coming from "Real" cast-off forward Samuel Eto'o. Even after the Cameroonian left, "Mallorca" continued to resist the more prestigious club and often took points from them.
This summer, the team from the Balearic Islands found themselves in uncertainty and were saved at the last minute by tennis player Rafael Nadal, who was born in Mallorca. Due to unstable financial situation, UEFA banned the team from participating in the Europa League tournament. Several leaders left the team: Aritz Aduriz, Borja Valero, Julio Alvarez, Josemi, Mario Suarez. The club's management failed to extend the contract with coach Gregorio Manzano. He was replaced by Danish coach Michael Laudrup. The departing leaders were replaced by the club's own young players or players discarded by other teams, but the team finished the first round in a relatively high position. In my opinion, this is a great merit of the strategist, whom I would choose as the best coach of the first round.
Disagreements between Valdano and Mourinho
In recent days, there have been many news reports in the media about disagreements between the coach and the sports director. Jorge Valdano was upset that in the match against "Almeria," "Real" started without a proper forward. The Spanish sports newspaper "AS" on Tuesday even announced that Jose Mourinho will leave the club after the season.
This summer, the Portuguese coach wanted another forward who could play in attack, as the team had only two true center forwards - Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain. The management stated that there were no funds for a new "striker." After Higuain's injury, Mourinho asked for a new forward again, but sports director Valdano told the coach that he has Benzema and there will be no new signings in attack. After a few games played without success by the Frenchman, the "Real" management mentioned that they have been looking for a forward for half a year, but are not willing to pay anything for one.
Florentino Perez is also not satisfied with the behavior of the coach. He expressed his dissatisfaction with Mourinho after the match against "Sevilla," when the specialist presented a list of mistakes made by the referees to journalists. The president stated that the coach's job is to train the team, while communicating with the media and representing the club can be done excellently by Jorge Valdano. After Thursday's King's Cup tournament match, Jose unequivocally replied that it will be clear in the summer whether he will continue working in Madrid, so we are all looking forward to an interesting transfer window.
Possible arrival of van Nistelrooy
Amidst the forward crisis, the "Real" management remembered an old acquaintance who left the club a year ago. Ruud van Nistelrooy perfectly fits Mourinho's requirements: he plays well with his head, "closes down" balls perfectly, is constantly dangerous to opponents' goals with his movement in and around the penalty area.
He wouldn't need much time to adjust to the team, as he played with most of the players last year. On Friday, news broke that van Nistelrooy is returning to Madrid for 2 million euros. In my opinion, this would be a wonderful solution to the forward crisis, as playing without a leader in attack is very difficult and often ineffective. The Dutchman would fill that gap perfectly and could help the club compete for titles in the Spanish championship, King's Cup, and Champions League.
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