CAMAVINGA LEADING THE WAY AS MADRID MARCH INTO FUTURE
ONE of the most remarkable things about Real Madrid’s extraordinary comeback against Manchester City was that Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro all watched it unfold from the sidelines. Madrid’s midfield for the ages had been taken off and 19-year-old Eduardo Camavinga was running the show. Camavinga arrived from Rennes last summer for a fee that could grow to £38million. After years of being linked with Manchester United’s Paul Pogba, Madrid had instead signed a French teenager who looks as if he has all the attributes to become an even better player. His signing was part of a major transfer policy shift at the club that started around 2014, when they decided they wanted to stop buying Ballon d’Or winners for €100m and start signing talented teenagers for about half that price. Nothing has vindicated that shift quite like the win over Manchester City. If not for 21-year-old Vinicius Junior’s incredible goal in the first leg, a second-leg comeback might have been beyond them. And if not for Rodrygo and Camavinga on Wednesday, they would not be in the Paris final. Rodrygo’s goals-per-game record in the Champions League is one every 104 minutes. That is better than every other player who has played at least 10 games for Madrid in Europe, apart from Ferenc Puskas and Cristiano Ronaldo. Camavinga was not far behind him with his contribution. It was his pass out to Karim Benzema that started the move for Madrid’s first goal on Wednesday. While his freshness can be explained by the fact he had come off the bench, it is far harder to explain the confidence he had to dominate the biggest game of the season at such a young age. Not all the gambles on youth have worked out. Brazilian Reinier Jesus, signed for £27m two years ago and still out on loan at Dortmund, is struggling to make an impact. Martin
Odegaard had to leave for Arsenal to get regular football and 20-year-old Japan winger Takefusa Kubo is out on loan at Mallorca. Old habits are hard to break too. Madrid still signed Eden Hazard for big money and expect to sign Kylian Mbappe this summer for a huge signing-on fee and massive wages. But the drive towards taking young talent has dominated and worked more often than it has failed. Fede Valverde is another example. The 23-year-old came through at Penarol in Uruguay after standing out in the country’s legendary ‘baby football’, where kids play competitively from the age of six. He was then spotted by Real Madrid’s top South American scout Juni Calafat and persuaded to move to a Spanish-speaking country as opposed to England, where Arsenal and Chelsea were among the clubs tracking him. Calafat is also the man behind the signings of both Brazilians Rodrygo and Vinicius. He has the gift not just for spotting players but for persuading them to join. Barcelona wanted Rodrygo, 21, but had no chance once Madrid had stepped in to sign him for an estimated £55m in 2018. Vinicius arrived for a similar fee from Flamengo a year before. This is big money for kids and Rodrygo had only played 11 games for Santos before his move. But on Wednesday they all looked like bargains as they carried Madrid to Paris. Carlo Ancelotti must now decide which of the young pretenders starts the Champions League final. He is still likely to go with the old guard from kick-off but as he said before the second leg regarding Camavinga and Rodrygo: ‘Sometimes it’s not who starts but who finishes the game that matters.’