The Solari effect has evaporated

The Solari effect evaporated in Eibar. After four games (easy games, it must be said) won, Real Madrid fell to a strong Eibar side who fought for each ball with more intensity than the visitors. The player’s spirit of revival after Lopetegui’s dismissal has given way to the conformist air that led to the previous disaster. The entitled regular starters, who feel their place is safe in this weakened team (the result of years of savings for the whimsical stadium remodelling), are playing with an absurd indifference. That is the evil that plagues this Madrid team.

Like Solari, Lopetegui also started out well with three easy wins. During the summer, the players had heard so much that they were nothing without Cristiano Ronaldo, that they took great pains at the start. But that has passed and now they lie in sixth place with five defeats in 13 games, which has emphasized how important the Portuguese was to this team. Ronaldo not only contributed goals, but also brought a competitive dignity that the team has lost, and without that there is no Real Madrid.

And then in the evening, we watched a bland game in the Metropolitano that came to life in the last quarter of an hour with Diego Costa’s goal, his first in the LaLiga in nine months. But Barcelona squeezed out an equalizer through Dembélé, who was given a great opening by Messi and made a cool and quality finish. In Dembélé lies a great player and for Barça it is worth supporting him through his off-field troubles. It’s not easy, but players like him are few and far between, and he showed that with his goal last night.