Real’s dressing room spat is a results of ‘not successful trophies’ – ‘it is all magnified’
EXCLUSIVE Real Madrid clash with Barcelona on Sunday evening – off the back of a dressing room civil war that saw one player rushed to hospital
Real Madrid will be hoping to stop Barcelona(Image: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Real Madrid, as an entity, has always been a soap opera – but the reports of what has occurred behind the scenes in the Spanish capital over the past couple of days have been nothing short of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Los Blancos, heading into a weekend where a loss will hand their bitter rivals Barcelona a second consecutive La Liga title, have erupted into a civil war.
Antonio Rudiger was involved in an incident with Alvaro Carreras, while Federico Valverde was reportedly knocked unconscious during a bust-up with Aurelien Tchouameni – with the former having to be rushed to hospital for checks.
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“It’s a consequence of Real Madrid not going just one season without winning anything, but now two,” Terry Gibson, who will be on comms for Premier Sports during Sunday’s El Clasico, told Daily Star Sport.
“The nature of their season, deciding to change manager when everybody was quite excited to see how Xabi Alonso would work, and it was quite clear after a few months that it wasn’t going the way that was planned…
“It hasn’t gone well, and now we’re seeing a kind of defiant Real Madrid, which we will see in the Clásico against Barcelona.
“It’s not great that they’re fighting amongst each other. I have seen that on a number of occasions, I was involved in it with teammates over the years, but it was normally resolved within minutes.
“This was over two days, so that’s unusual – to have a disagreement one day and then it’s continuing, even more violently, the next day is highly unusual.
“So it is the times we live in with Real Madrid. If you don’t win trophies, everything is magnified. And as I say, it’s multiplied because Barcelona – everything’s just going smoothly for Barcelona!”
Barcelona have one hand on the title, and a win over Real will confirm Hansi Flick’s side as champions.
It will be the icing on the proverbial cake for Flick’s side to claim Spain’s biggest prize while Real’s abysmal season is heading towards a very undignified end.
However, Gibson admitted that saw a fight against Espanyol last weekend that has been absent for Los Blancos: “They weren’t very good in the first half, and they came out at half-time and had – for the first time, I’ve not seen it before, and I’ve not seen it from other teams either – the huddle.
“Now, you normally get the huddle before kickoff. They had a huddle on the pitch, led by Valverde, with the manager sitting on the bench looking at them, thinking: “What’s going on here?” It almost looked like they were running things themselves.
“I have to say they were better in the second half, and they won 2–0. Vini scored two great goals. I saw a determination from Real Madrid there to make sure they didn’t become the team that had to give the guard of honour to Barcelona next week.
“The only way they’re going to prolong this is by getting a win at Barcelona, so they’re not on the premises when Barcelona are doing a lap of honour with the La Liga title.
“I expect a defiant Real Madrid from the start of the game, but there is the potential that if things don’t go their way, it will get feisty.
“Actually, it’s what people look for in a Clásico. There are wonderful footballers, but there is that rivalry between the two teams that can spill over sometimes and get a little bit hot-tempered.”
FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid is exclusively live for UK fans on Premier Sports 1 or via the Premier Sports app, with coverage beginning at 7:30pm for an 8pm kick off.
