[Sport] From Ramos to 'Deivid': the inheritance of the "good boy" Alaba and the nightmare of Barcelona

[SougarLord]

Web: https://www.elmundo.es/deportes/futbol/2022/01/12/61ddbaccfdddff678b8b4589.html

 

 

"Hey! Deivid! Hey!". At Real Madrid, Deivid is called Deivid out of respect for the Anglo-Saxon origin of his name, not because of the joke with which a friend might call David, his Spanish colleague, Deivid. Not so with Alaba. In the Madrid dressing room, Deivid imposes. An Austrian childhood, a decade of German righteousness, and a surprisingly quick adjustment to a new team, a new city, a new culture, and a new language. Everyone is amazed at Deivid, and Deivid, undaunted, maintains the composure that has made him one of Madrid's sporting and spiritual leaders. Everything, in addition, with the '4' of Sergio Ramos himself on his back. Almost nothing.

 

One of the scenes from yesterday's training in Riyadh is worth describing. After 25 minutes of the session, Davide Ancelotti, always under the watchful eye of his father, decided to end one exercise and move on to the next. That moment was taken advantage of by the majority of footballers to approach the band to drink water, except for some. Modric and Kroos were talking in the center of the field, with Carletto a few meters away. He turned his gaze to the right and saw Alaba patiently waiting for the next order. The defender had adjusted the laces of his boots and was waiting standing, hardly moving the necessary square meter, in the exact position in which he should start the exercise. Ancelotti gave him a little gesture with his arm and Deivid nodded decisively.

 

His first Spanish Super Cup and the possibility of his first title as a Madrid player focus all the efforts of one of the best center-backs in the League. There is nothing else. "Real Madrid simply represents success," he acknowledged a few days ago in an interview with the German media SZ. That's what he was looking for when he left Bayern in Munich and packed his bags for Madrid in a negotiation that took place for months, always with the shadow of Ramos on the table. A very long shadow.

The shadow of Ramos

 

Just a year ago, the Andalusian center-back forced his left knee to play in the semifinals of the Super Cup against Athletic Club. He was aware of the pain during the warm-up before kickoff, but decided, and so did Zidane's coaching staff, to infiltrate to try to win the tournament. Madrid lost against the Basque team and Ramos only played four games again until the end of the season. Against Elche in the League, with Spain against Greece and Kosovo, all three in March, and the return of the Champions semi-finals against Chelsea. Four scarce duels in which he could not demonstrate to the upper echelons of the Bernabéu that his physique had recovered for the elite.

Doubts grew and ghosts flew. If in the negotiation for the signing of Alaba there was always the shadow of Ramos, in the talks for the renewal of the captain the agreement with the Austrian, closed in the month of January, was always flying over, precisely on the dates in which the one of Beds.

Advice and support to Vinicius and Jovic

 

On June 17, Madrid organized an event to fire Ramos. On July 21, he did the same to announce Alaba with the '4' on his back. "I know what it means," the player confessed that day. A phrase that could be empty but that has become a reality over the months. He praises some as a father would, but he is also the first to advise and praise. He so he does it with the young. He jokes with Camavinga before and after matches in the same way that he orders him during the match, he is one of the first to go to celebrate the goals of those who need it most, such as Vinicius or Jovic at the time, and he is one of the main culprits of Militao's enormous regularity. "That couple is going very well for us," Ancelotti commented yesterday, who acknowledged that he had no doubts with the former Bayern player: "None, because I know the type of professional he is and the quality he has."

 

In the same vein, Toni Kroos was shown, who summarized it all in "he's a good boy", something essential in a wardrobe that has put hierarchies aside. "He seems like he's been here for many years," he added. Munich is precisely the past for Kroos, Ancelotti and Alaba, a city that causes many nightmares in tonight's rival in Riyadh, Barcelona.

 

The Catalans have faced Bayern de Alaba five times and have only won once, just when the Austrian was not in the line-up: 3-0 in the first leg of the 2015 Champions League semi-finals, when Pep Guardiola was leading the from the Allianz Arena. Alaba started the 7-0 aggregate of the 2013 semis and the historic 2-8 of the 2020 quarters. In addition, he was already the winner, in white, of the last Camp Nou classic: 1-2. Today, new appointment for Deivid.