The recriminations in Spain and beyond were inevitable long before the final whistle in the Santiago Bernabeu. Florentino Perez had taken an emerging Real Madrid that had everything he needed and ruined it by throwing a superstar-shaped spanner into the works. Arsenal, a carefully drilled unit that in some ways resembled the 2024 European champions at their best, had blown apart an opponent who put you in mind of the worst excesses of the mid 2000s, when Perez was adding fresh coats of paint to the Bentley annually while the engine was taken by the bailiffs.
But the Galactico project has not failed. Galactico production must increase until results improve. Madrid’s problem this season has not been that they signed Kylian Mbappe. It is that they never adequately replaced Toni Kroos.
Sure, Federico Valverde got the No.8 shirt and he has delivered outstanding performances throughout this season. Even in defeat, the Uruguayan was among the few in Madrid colors who did not significantly blot their copybook. Valverde did all that could have been asked of him and more, filling in at right back in the first leg and functioning as the go-to guy in possession in the forlorn pursuit at the Bernabeu. No one had more touches, attempted more passes or progressed the ball upfield more than Valverde. It is just a task that does not play perfectly to his skill set.
What Madrid were missing on Wednesday night was a pure passer, a player who would look up at Arsenal’s mid-block and spot the minute cracks within it that could be prized apart with one moment of precise incision. Think Kroos in the semifinal second leg against Bayern Munich last season, 22 progressive passes dragging his opponents far and wide and speeding his side’s advancement into the final third.
Compare that to the stodge that was served up as Madrid tried to find their way around Arsenal. Luka Modric could have been the one to pick at the gaps in years gone by. He remains capable of doing so, but the limited athleticism of anyone approaching their 40th birthday had been cruelly exposed in the first leg.
Without a tempo setter deep in the side, there was no obvious plan to progress the ball beyond slowly working it to the superstars. Possession simply trundled towards a left flank where Jurrien Timber had Vinicius Junior in his pocket. The right flank was hardly more effective. The hosts’ pass map from last night proves as much, no one finding a teammate between the Arsenal lines in central areas where they could be their most effective. Doubtless, some of that comes down to how well Declan Rice and Thomas Partey patrolled those areas but the best Madrid attacks can thread the tightest of needles.
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What Madrid needed was the sort of player who could force movement from his teammates, whose mastery of possession is such that the others in white can’t help but to make a run into space because they know if they do, the ball will find them. One of the great passing minds of the game. A Trent Alexander-Arnold type. Funny that…
If nothing else, having Alexander-Arnold on Wednesday might have meant the 43 crosses they delivered from open play — the most they’ve attempted in a game since November 2018 — were actually aimed at someone rather than hopeless heaves for William Saliba and Jakub Kiwior to ease away. More profound than that, a settled and steady Alexander-Arnold would have helped to kick Madrid’s reliance on crosses and desperate long-range efforts. Having a true progressive passer at the base of the team would have got Vinicius and Mbappe the quick ball they crave, the sort that would have allowed this team to attack Arsenal before Rice and Partey had gotten back into position.
In the extremely likely event that Alexander-Arnold does arrive on July 1, he will not solve every issue and may create others for Madrid. His defensive weaknesses are often overstated — and are emphatically worth it given the attacking output he delivers — but at the moment, he does not figure to have a center back of Ibrahima Konate’s quality covering for him on the flanks. There are adjustments to the balance of a side that have to be made to fit Alexander-Arnold in. They are worth it, but they may take time to bear fruit.
Most of all, this defeat to Arsenal proved the value of a team as organized and diligent as Madrid were last season. If they want to get back to the European summit, then a return to that old attitude is a sine qua non. Still, that does not preclude them from addressing the problems in their team. And boy, does Alexander-Arnold look like the ideal fix for one of the biggest.
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