Tense face-to-face meeting in the Real Madrid locker room

Real Madrid is on the brink. For weeks the team has been walking a tightrope, but now it is shuffling along without a safety net or, at the very least, with one so slack it can no longer prevent the repeated collapses of a side that increasingly looks lost. On Tuesday, the walls of the Valdebebas locker room once again witnessed one of those meetings that have been recurring for the past 15 months, involving largely the same figures, the same objective and the same underlying problem: trying to recover a group that cannot find its direction.

Ancelotti was unable to do it in the final stage of his spell, something Álvaro Arbeloa has also been unable to accomplish. The Italian, at least, pushed the team to the limit and took them to a Copa del Rey final against Barcelona that was contested until the very last second. Now the academy product faces the definitive test. The problem is that the so-called shock effect has already worn off, or at least that is how it appears.

The circumstances, a year later, are strikingly similar. A long list of injuries, players pursuing their own individual priorities and a message that has failed to resonate in a locker room increasingly shaped by personal interests, something that becomes more evident with each passing day.

With Mbappé and Bellingham trying to find solutions to their respective physical issues, the rest of the squad looked each other in the eye inside the locker room, searching for something that might motivate and unite a group that appears lost and, above all, disconnected from the reality of the fan base, which has grown increasingly disillusioned.

Celta and Manchester City represent the final two lifelines Real Madrid can still cling to if they want to avoid ending the season in failure. The effort Arbeloa demanded from his players is not enough. Neither the coach nor the squad truly seem to believe in their chances. The meeting itself was tense. Arbeloa had little choice but to turn to a form of group therapy, and he did. Within a week it will become clear how much life remains in this roster.

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