The two blank years without major titles for Real Madrid, already difficult to digest for its fan base, have culminated in a defeat that does not count in terms of trophies but does erode its prestige in an incalculable way. The fact that the first white team has not been able to place a single player on the list of 26 that make up the squad that will play the World Cup this summer is an unprecedented fact in history and confirms the progressive and deliberate de-Spanishization of the squad (de facto and opposed to the essence of its practically foundational discourse tone) promoted by the model of president Florentino Pérez.
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The worst thing about the call-up for Madrid fans is that no one with a minimum knowledge of football can reproach coach De la Fuente, a native of La Rioja and therefore immune to the suspicions that always surround those born in nationalist, not centralist but peripheral, areas, for his choice of players ahead of those from Madrid.
The supposedly best-placed candidates were far from reaching the adequate performance to deserve the reward. Carvajal has not been relevant this season, overlooked by Arbeloa; Huijsen has shown himself to be an unconvincing hybrid center-back between toughness (which he has not had) and good footwork (which has not been seen), while Gonzalo, lastly, has had the advantage of the capital’s media spotlight, distorted considering the minutes played and his actual performance. The youth academy forward has been included in the group of nine companions in the Spanish squad’s training camp, a nod in the form of a crumb that highlights, depending on how you look at it, the virulence of the white catastrophe.
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The press conference with De la Fuente after the list contained a series of soft questions, the best demonstration of an announcement that was expected. The noise endured, for example, by Luis Aragonés in his time as coach for calling up Raúl, a player with enormous weight at that time, has nothing to do with an environment that accepts with resignation Madrid’s residual role.
It is confirmed, finally, the anomaly, consolidated over time, of a Real Madrid with zero representation in the Spanish national team contrasted with a narrative of strength and centripetal mentality now orphaned and without arguments to appropriate and link itself to a certain idea of Spanishness. Florentino Pérez, in that sense, has never hidden his inclination for a markedly mercantilist model that prioritizes scouting the best international stars of the moment over a compact and prior idea of playing style. The outcome, not for being historic, ceases to be the chronicle of a foretold black hole.
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