Has Real Madrid Coach Manuel Pellegrini another potential “time-bomb” ticking within his dressing room? Is there evidence of the existence of a latent “problem” that will need all is psychological & human relations skills in other to keep things flowing smoothly with all his players, his team & Club objectives?
It could well be that Coach Pellegrini could be about to suffer from “too much of a good thing”, while he finally sees how at last his players slowly begin to come together as a team & into a real goal scoring machine; so much so that this seasons Real Madrid team is on goal record breaking course. Part of the reason is the “explosion” of 22 year old Argentine player Higuain with is 16 goals & the pure effectiveness of Cristiano Ronaldo who virtually scores a goal per game & already has 13 so far in the Spanish League; & here may lay a big part of the embryonic problem!
There is no doubt about the enormous ambitious personality of Cristiano Ronaldo & his quest to be “Football’s Greatest Ever” player, which means achieving all the titles possible in his sight & reach. One of those as yet achieved prizes is the prestigious “Pichichi” title given to the highest goal scorer of the Spanish League in a given season. The Portuguese is at the moment 4 goals behind the current leaders Lionel Messi & David Villa, & 3 behind his team-mate Higuain, with the latter also expressing publicly the shared objective of also going after this seasons “Pichichi” title. Is it a good thing for two players in the same team to personally compete for the same prize? Beforehand it would seem the obvious answer is YES, however we are beginning to witness repeated playing actions & behaviour that has called the attention of more than one person & of some observant journalists.
Earlier in the season, Higuaín was questioned why he did not pass a ball to his then “Club rival” Benzema who was in a better goal position instead of deciding setting up Ronaldo who was worst positioned & missed. Back then it was said that “fouled mouth internal & media interests” had created out of nothing the insinuation that the rivalry for the same position between Higuain & Benzema was so intense, that the former decided not to give away any advantage to the Frenchmen & thus was a “bad team-mate”. Last Sunday against Tenerife we saw another sign of “counter-productive” rivalry of another sort, but this time for the “Pichichi” prize, when Cristaino Ronaldo decided to go at it alone towards a goal opportunity – which he missed - when Higuaín was clearly in a much better position to score. Was Cristiano thinking exclusively in, & not in his team, with cutting back his personal goal tally gap between himself & Higuain (apart from Messi & Villa) in the race for the “Pichichi” title? Could the “penalty incident” two weeks back with Xabi Alonso & the apparent “pissed-off” attitude of Roanldo at not taking the penalty another piece of evidence that Cristiano is on a mission, a ONE MAN mission?
Some media people have observed & suspect that these “rivalries” could be negative in the teams’ cohesion if not managed well by Coach Pellegrini. There could be the beginning of a collision course between some “super-egos” that may hurt the team in upcoming vital moments. One of those vital moments is the Champions League race; first up turning around & attempting to eliminate Olympique de Lyon in the return Quarter Final, & secondly closing the 2 point gap with rival FC Barcelona in the Spanish “Liga” Championship race.
Lastly, the “too much of a good thing” could have caused devastating collateral damage: Karim Benzema. The 22 year old Frenchman came to Real Madrid with a 30M€ transfer tag, as the next promising World Football Star & with the personal thought (& possible guarantee) of being the Spanish Clubs permanent Nº9 Striker. What has occurred instead is that his arrival has coincided precisely with the “explosion” of Higuain who has closed all possible doors & debates with his hard work & string of goals. Even when the Argentine International was injured for 4 weeks his team-mate Benzema did not take advantage of his playing time to give himself & his followers’ sufficient arguments to voice as to why he should be preferred over Higuain. Thus Karim Benzema is having a “horror” time at the Club of his “dreams” as his “star” category has been relegated to the bench to watch helplessly how his “club rival” grows & grows into an undisputed player. A heavy blow for a very young Football player who is still adapting to his new Club, his new city & new country, in which we hope he has sufficient character & strength to overcome without any short-term psychological “scars”.
Here are three cases, of three players, with three individual stories that share the same dressing room & are vital in the objectives of Real Madrid. Three separate elements whose interactions coild have negative consequences upon the entire whole. Three potential “time-bombs” that needs to be skilfully managed & deactivated by their Coach.
Over exaggerating about the mentioned observations? Making a mountain out of a mole hill? Yes, it is more than likely, however SFS has limited itself on writing about observed behaviour & speculating upon these facts with references from other people –in this case media observers – who have also sounded the “alarm” bells. Better to warn of possible danger ahead of time & make sure that the “good things” remains positive for good of the WHOLE team.
