Tres Reyes and a gift from Pandora’s Box
Just one week into the New Year’s fixtures and we’re already hitting an unlamented hiatus as the coming weekend’s games are put on hold for the inflated Supercopa de España jamboree taking place in Saudi Arabia. I’ll get back to that later though. For now, let’s look at more pleasant things.
Over here in Spain, the tradition of ‘Three Kings’ day is widely observed, when characters representing Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar parade in many towns and cities across the country presaging gifts given to children. The ‘Magis’ tributes to the infant Jesus had been gold, frankincense and myrrh, but Spanish children of modern times would look for something a little more suited to their contemporary tastes. Very much the same is true of football fans, and in today’s column I’ll be looking at three LaLiga managers, hardly Magi, although some would perhaps call them ‘Wise Men,’ who may have been searching around in
Pandora’s Box for a suitable gift, and found the only thing left in there when the eponymous inquisitive woman’s misadventures had already released into the world hope.
Zinedine Zidane, newly returned to the manager’s office through the revolving door at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu has the somewhat unenviable task of taking Los Blancos back to the summit of the domestic game, and returning the league title to Spain’s capital city. Despite the usual fairly copious spending in the summer, Zidane has rarely had all of his new players on the pitch at the same time, although the absences of Hazard and Mendy have been down to injuries, it has to be said that Jovic looks no closer to selection as a regular starter than before his move from Eintracht Frankfurt.
That said, now tied on points at the top of the table, and with a draw at the Camp Nou already safely snaffled, and the return to come, might it be that the Frenchman has given that priceless ‘hope’ to Madridistas that the 19 point gap between them and Barcelona of last year and the 17 point gap the previous term can be whittled away. Certainly the 0-3 win over Getafe at the weekend was the kind of earnestly artisan victory that potential champions tend to have on their CV.
The following day, AS headlined the importance of having a robust defence, and with the first two goals coming via defender Raphaël
Varane, and Thibaut Courtois offering three more than decent first-half stops to keep the eager home forwards at bay, it was a fair call. To illustrate the fact, here’s a stat. Los Blancos have now secured clean sheets in away fixtures at Barcelona, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Getafe. They have now played all rivals in top 8 and conceded just twice.
To help things along, over in Catalunya, things are hardly rosy. Messi seems a little jaded and it’s Luis Suárez who has been providing the club’s impetus, having an involvement in the last nine goals the club has scored, netting four himself and assisting in five more. Had it not been for the Uruguayan’s input in the Barcelona ‘Derby’ over the weekend, it’s unlikely that Messi’s brief and fleeting cameos would have swayed things in the Blaugrana’s favour. Perhaps that hope inspired by Zidane could flourish in white in May.
Talking of the Barcelona ‘Derby’ let’s look at our next ‘King’ Abelardo Fernández, the new man at the helm of Espanyol. The 49-year-old Asturian-born Abelardo was brought into the hot seat after what seemed the inevitable decision by Chen Yansheng to dispense with Pablo Machín after a disastrous tail spin of results plunged the Budgies from their perch of mid-table security into a relegation dogfight.
Taking over at a club nailed to the foot of the table and facing a cross-city game against the current champions and league leaders was never likely to be an easy return to the city for Abelardo who had spent eight seasons playing in Barça’s colours, but he wrung a performance out of his players that offered hope of a light at the end of the tunnel. Going ahead to then be pulled back and trailing going into the last couple of minutes is normally the prelude to defeat for a club bereft of confidence and hope, but having thrown Chinese substitute Wu Lei into the fray and see him deliver an 88th minute equaliser could be a decisive moment for Abelardo and a turning point for the club.
Another club seemingly in free fall before a new man came in to offer hope was Leganés. Mauricio Pellegrino began the season in charge of Los Pepineros, but was removed when all hope seemed to be lost, and the club reached out to Javier Aguirre, to save them. The Mexican had performed a similarly improbable feat back in 2012, when rescuing Espanyol from the foot of the table and guiding them to top tier salvation. Can he perform the oracle once again?
Well, there’s new hope – there’s that word again – as the club have seen a dramatic upturn in fortunes, and the draw at the weekend when visiting Valladolid was broadly illustrative of the improvement, taking them to within a single point of clearing the drop zone. Twice ahead against the Blanquivioletas, they were only denied a probably merited victory by Enes Ünal’s header with ten minutes to play. Stick three points on the board when the league fixtures resume at home in the always hotly contested South Madrid ‘Derby’ against Getafe, and Aguirre could be well on the way to another unlikely salvage job. A run of form taking eight points from the last four games, a total only bettered by Atletico Madrid and Villareal in the entire league, certainly offers up ‘hope.’
Now, having done with all things hopeful, let’s return to the Supercopa shenanigans. There’s surely little doubt that that the decision to include runners-up up in both competitions where a single game between league champions and Copa del Rey winners normally decide the trophy – to say nothing of the idea of moving the minitournament to Saudi Arabia – is driven by anything but the all-consuming drive to maximise income for all involved. The very fact that clubs are reporting minimal ticket sales for a jaunt likely to cost in excess of €1,000 for anyone keen to take time out and travel to watch what will, in all likelihood be weakened teams – which manager is going to risk top players in such a pointless foreign venture with domestic trophies still up for grabs? – is hardly surprising, now is it?
Well, perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. No, I don’t think so either, but let’s give it a chance. Next week, I’ll be looking at how it all panned out, and looking forward to the return of La Liga. Hasta luego!