Alvaro Arbeloa is running out of time to save his season. Out of the Copa del Rey, knocked out by Albacete, and with LaLiga in an almost chimerical position, the coach is playing for the season – and probably more – in the Champions League, that territory where Real Madrid usually finds arguments even when everything else fails.
The defeat at Son Moix (2-1), poor in play and news, left the team seven points behind Barcelona with eight games to go. A distance that, rather than demanding consistency, calls for a turnaround in fortune. So the focus naturally shifts to Bayern Munich, the next test and the real judge of the season.
The road is clear and steep
Five top-level matches if Arbeloa wants to sustain his candidacy for the Real Madrid bench. Two duels against Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, two more in a semi-final that could see them face PSG or Liverpool and a final in Budapest that today sounds distant but is the only goal that compensates for the effort. In LaLiga, they can only cling to a blow at the Camp Nou and hope that the leader falls apart. From what we saw in Mallorca, it does not invite us to think about it.
The numbers do not help either. The comparison with Xabi Alonso, whom Arbeloa replaced on the bench, is not favorable. The current Real Madrid coach has managed fewer games (18 games compared to 28 for Alonso) and has already equaled his number of defeats: five (Albacete, Benfica, Osasuna, Getafe and Mallorca). A statistic that, at Real Madrid, carries weight.
There was a false dawn after the setback against Getafe (0-1): the elimination of Manchester City in the Champions League and the victories against Celta, Elche and Atletico Madrid showed a recognizable team, with five consecutive victories and a clear idea. But it only took a few tweaks for the mechanism to falter.
The block that worked –Valverde, Pitarch, Tchouameni, Guler, Brahim and Vinicius– was altered in Mallorca: Valverde’s suspension, Vinicius and Pitarch’s rest and Camavinga’s return, together with the gamble on young Manuel Angel, changed the balance.
And Mbappe appeared, back from his knee injury, as the only argument in a first half where Real Madrid was little more than their striker, stopped by Leo Roman. In addition, in the 1-0, Camavinga was singled out for his non-existent retreat. The rest simply did not show up.
Not even the changes offered a response. In the second half there was no reaction and the only light was the return of Militao, 24 games later, with a header with which he showed his hierarchy. With the Brazilian in form, the center of the defense has an owner and Arbeloa will have to decide who gives up their place: Rudiger or Rafael Obrador.
Time, meanwhile, does not stand still. Arbeloa has just 48 hours to get it right again before Bayern. In that time frame, much more than a result is at stake. Before the Mallorca game, Arbeloa spoke about his future with a serenity that contrasts with the noise of the environment:
"I'm not worried at all. I've said it many times: I'll be here until the day the club wants me to be. I'm very happy and my only goal is to help the players to win titles. That's what I want, that Real Madrid continues to win titles. I want to help, to do my bit. But the important thing is that Real Madrid wins. Whoever is in this chair, I will be happy if Real Madrid wins. And that's my only goal."
And there lies the issue, almost like an old unwritten law of the Bernabeu: the coach lives in the result and explains himself in Europe. Arbeloa still has that door open. It is not a small thing, but it does not give too much margin. At Madrid, in the end, everything boils down to winning and doing it on time. Next stop, Bayern Munich.
