Same Old Madrid? Varela Says Nothing's Changed — With or Without Xabi Alonso
Radio MARCA's Raúl Varela gave a brutally honest take on Real Madrid's Champions League progression against Benfica — and it wasn't pretty.
Madrid are through to the last 16, but don’t expect anyone at the Bernabéu to be popping bottles just yet. The 3-1 aggregate win over Benfica did the job on paper, but the feeling surrounding the club right now is far from comfortable.
Job Done, But Nobody’s Buzzing
Radio MARCA pundit Raúl Varela was characteristically direct in his La Tribu column, framing the whole situation around a quote from Carlo Ancelotti about life in the dugout — essentially that the suffering always outweighs the happiness. And honestly, watching this Madrid side lately, it’s hard to argue with that.
Varela’s verdict was pretty blunt: yes, they’re through, but the sense of regression hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s just sort of hovering over the camp like a grey cloud over east London on a Tuesday.
The Injury List Is Ridiculous
To be fair to Madrid, they’re absolutely battered at the moment. Varela ran through the absentees and it’s a proper long list:
- Mbappé — reportedly set to miss the Getafe game and the trip to Celta Vigo after that
- Bellingham
- Militão
- Ceballos
- Rodrygo
- Huijsen
That’s not a squad, that’s a crisis. And yet, Varela’s argument is that even accounting for all of that, the underlying issues with this team haven’t shifted. His line was something along the lines of: this Madrid hasn’t changed — it’s still the same as it was under Xabi Alonso. Bit of a sting in that one.
The Bright Spots — And There Aren’t Many
Varela did find a few things worth noting:
- Tchouaméni — looking genuinely mature and reliable in the middle of the park
- Valverde — getting back to his best in a more central role, where he clearly feels most at home
- Vinicius — the numbers here are absolutely mad
On Vini Jr., the stats really do speak for themselves. Over the last six European campaigns, he leads all forwards in combined goals and assists with 22 direct contributions — 12 goals and 10 assists. That puts him ahead of Benzema and Mbappé (both on 18) and Haaland (17). That’s the kind of stat that shuts down any argument.
Courtois and… That’s About It
Beyond those three, Varela wasn’t exactly gushing. He gave a nod to Courtois for another assured performance — making top saves look almost boring, like he’s picking a coffee from the office vending machine — but otherwise felt there wasn’t much else to write home about.
The game itself, in his view, was almost skippable. The pre-match noise around Mourinho provided more entertainment than the actual 90 minutes, and the post-match feeling was one of collective shrug.
The Bigger Picture
Varela also took a swipe at the wider circus, having a go at Piqué for some recent nonsense — though Arbeloa apparently kept schtum on it, which Varela seemed to appreciate.
The bottom line from his analysis: Madrid are grinding through this period, held together by individual brilliance rather than any coherent system. Ancelotti’s point about commitment leading to good things is sound — but right now, according to Varela, they’re still missing a fair bit of everything. Last 16 secured, questions very much not answered.