Peja Mijatović, who played for Real Madrid from 1996 to 1999 and served as the club’s director of football from 2006 to 2009, spoke on El Larguero about his thoughts on Arbeloa’s Madrid after losing 4-2 to Benfica in the Champions League.
The 57-year-old former footballer told Cadena SER: “I saw a better Benfica, faster, more alert, more enthusiastic,” and confessed: “I was sad, but above all I was very worried. Real Madrid did not leave me with good feelings.”
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“Despite the result, it didn’t look like a team that understood what they were playing for,” said the Montenegrin.
I was sad, but most of all I was very worried. Real Madrid did not leave me with good feelings
“Real Madrid have entered into a dynamic where ‘everything is fine’ and ‘things will get better’…and that is very dangerous in football.”
Peja Mijatovic told Manu Caleo about the “old ghosts” that haunt Real Madrid: “Did we see the old ghosts that we already saw in Xabi Alonso and that we saw last year in Ancelotti? Yes… last year as well, they couldn’t win anything, They got into a dynamic where ‘we’ll fix it’, ‘it’s temporary’, ‘it doesn’t matter’, ‘we’ll get better’…and that’s very dangerous in football. You can’t do that. If you improve when you want to improve, you get results and you get a good atmosphere and rhythm.”
“I think that Real Madrid entered a dynamic, not now, but last year, where it says, ‘We’ve won a lot of Champions Leagues, so it’s okay…’. There’s always a lot going on in football, especially in Madrid. You always have to give more,” explained the former Partizan, Valencia, Real Madrid, Fiorentina and Levante player.
Mijatovic: “Real Madrid doesn’t have a leader and scoring goals doesn’t make Mbappé a leader.”
Peja Mijatovic believes that the current Real Madrid team is hampered by the lack of leadership on the pitch and in the dressing room.
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“I don’t think Real Madrid have leaders, they don’t have players who make a difference. They don’t have leaders who say, ‘What on earth are you doing?’ Sergio Ramos, Modric, Benzema, Fernando Hierro, Raul… leaders that the cameras look at,” he insisted.
“The leader of my generation was Fernando Hierro. If Fernando said something, we had to do it.”
The former soccer player believes, “Mbappé is a great soccer player, but he is not a leader. Zidane, the French player, was not a leader, but he was the best player. Goals do not make Mbappé a leader.”
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“The leader of my generation was Fernando Hierro. If Fernando said something, we had to do whatever it took,” he recalled.
Mijatovic: “It’s not the president’s fault. I think the players need to wake up a little bit.”
Mijatovic did not believe that the manager (first Xabi Alonso, later Álvaro Arbeloa) or president (Florentino Perez) was to blame for the bad situation, but rather the players.
“When Xabi Alonso already left, I said that it was probably not a manager’s problem. And I still say that. Álvaro Arbeloa has come in, a manager who may not have enough experience, but who is a Madridista and who knows the players and the club. And once again we see such signs of laxity. And we think this can be solved by the manager. I think we have to start asking ourselves if it’s not the president’s fault. I think the players need to wake up a little bit and ask themselves, “Against Benfica, they don’t seem to care that they lose the ball, they act as if they are the best in the world, they are tired and relaxed… I don’t see any spark, I don’t see anything,” he said.
