Jorge Valdano offered a revealing assessment of Real Madrid’s recent performance on Deporte Plus+, focusing less on tactics and more on something he believes has clearly changed: the team’s emotional and psychological state under Álvaro Arbeloa.
Reflecting on the win over Villarreal, Valdano highlighted the level of collective engagement he saw from the opening whistle to the final minute. For him, the performance was defined by unity and intensity—qualities he feels had been inconsistent earlier
in the season.
“What stood out to me was the connection,” Valdano explained. “From minute one to minute ninety, the team was completely plugged in. That kind of sustained focus simply wasn’t there before.”
Without mincing words, Valdano drew a contrast with the period under Xabi Alonso. In his view, Madrid often looked well-prepared at kickoff but struggled to maintain cohesion once matches settled into rhythm.
“With Xabi, the players would come out of the locker room knowing exactly what to do,” Valdano said. “For the first 20 or 25 minutes, everything worked. But after that, the team would lose structure, concentration would slip, and matches would slowly unravel.”
The Villarreal match, however, represented something different. Valdano described it as a “very rich” performance—one that went beyond the scoreline or individual brilliance. While acknowledging that Kylian Mbappé’s goals once again proved decisive, he emphasized that Madrid did not rely on heroics from Thibaut Courtois to survive.
“Yes, they won with goals from the best striker in the world,” Valdano noted, “but they didn’t need the best goalkeeper in the world to save them. That tells you the team was disciplined, solid, and confident.
“Are the players more committed now? I think they’re more comfortable. I don’t know exactly what happened before, but something clearly wasn’t working. Arbeloa seems to understand that—and he’s correcting it.”
