RReal Madrid returned to training this morning after a two-day break that caused controversy among fans. Coach Arbeloa’s idea was to take advantage of the fact that the calendar only gives them one game a week off to improve, so it is not very popular among fans for players to enjoy these mini-vacations after a bad result or a lackluster win like the one they achieved against Rayo.
“Now it’s time to work. We’ve got two weeks where we can work at all levels. That’s what we want, what we want, what we’re looking for. I’ve been here 18 to 19 days and there’s a game practically every three days and I don’t have much work to do. We didn’t have time to do things. What we want is to have time to work with the players and improve and go further every day. That’s what we need to do from now on. That’s what we’re focused on,” the coach said before the game against Rayo.
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So Arbeloa gets to work this morning. Physical trainer Pintas, who has already returned alongside Xavi who had doubts, and who has already taken over the reins completely from the new manager, will also have work to do as physicality is one of the aspects Arbeloa wants to improve. Just over a week ago, Zidane, who was appointed in January following the sacking of fellow coach Rafa Benitez, recalled the importance of time to implement a training plan.
“I remember there were three weeks. No European Cup, no cup games, no league games, we had three weeks to work. For three weeks, we could work from Monday until the next game. As I used to say, they actually knew they needed to do some cardio and gas up,” Zidane recalled, leaving the physical aspects to Bernardo Requena and the staff already at Castilla. Pintus was not scheduled to arrive in Madrid until the summer.
In Arbeloa’s case, the counter must be set to zero starting today. The next match will be played on Sunday at the Mestalla, after which there will be another long break, although it will be slightly shorter as the match against Real Sociedad is on Saturday, but it remains to be seen whether there will be a day off on Monday in order to make accurate calculations.
Turning to Lisbon again
And the results will be especially clear next week, when they face Benfica again at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday the 16th. Los Blancos lost the match against Mourinho’s side, losing 4-2, forcing Madrid to once again face Portugal in a play-off with a chance to advance to the last 16.
