The weight of a defeat

Local football has the opportunity to learn from the defeats of others, if it cannot from victories. Real Madrid clearly lost the match with Arsenal in London (score 0-3) and despite a consistent choir singing the team's praises and burying coach Carlo Ancelotti, no one inside the club considers the qualification lost.

What critics forget very quickly is the fact that a defeat like this, even with an even tougher score, does not cancel the DNA of a team like Real. It is clear that the tactics were wrong, the concentration was... missing on the call, but the history, mentality and winning culture do not disappear after 90 minutes. The match is just a photo, not the whole film. Every great team has failures, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, they all had tough moments, but what defines them is how they react, not how they fall. Great teams have long-term strategies, they are not built just for one match or one season. A defeat can be fuel in the medium term, humiliations can be motivating. It is easy to draw conclusions after a defeat, but if history has taught us anything, it is that teams like Real Madrid do not stay down for long. It is just a momentary lesson, not a fall.

Yesterday's adored, today's reviled, Carlo Ancelotti informed his players that "they must believe in qualification" because at the Santiago Bernabeu, Real's stadium, such results can return, and the statistics say he is right.

Local coaches often say that it is not appropriate to have a "wedding on victory and a funeral on failure", but for this to be valid, trust needs to be cultivated and this cannot be done with empty words alone, much more is needed.