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8/6/2019 Football+ Jorge Valdano Interview
1/3
ORGE VALDANO was a World Cup
winner with Argentina in 1986,
scoring a goal in the 3-2 win over
Germany in the fnal. An attacking
player, he was in the Real Madrid
team at the time and returned as manager rom
1994 to 1996, winning La Liga in his frst season.
He later returned as Sporting Director but resigned
in 2005, jaded by the galacticos era. Then, in
2009, he returned as director general and set
about reshaping the club and ending the domestic
dominance o Barcelona. The job brings many
tensions, including some, reportedly, between him
and Jos Mourinho, but i there is an enemy within,
it is not the biggest one.
Just beore the season entered its dnouement
in the Champions League and the Spanish league I went to Madrid to catch up on his progress. Its
now 25 years since the Argentine was a top-class
ootballer himsel but he remains a great thinker, and
talker, on the sport, and an author o several books.
Sitting in one o Reals conerence rooms, I kick o
by asking: how great is the dierence between the
stars o his day and those o today?
P, Valdano blows out air through his lips.
Thats incomparable. In my day as a player there
were also guys who did strange things. Take my
old teammate at Real, the late Juanito. He had an
enormous explosive personality, on the pitch and o
it. He sometimes got into trouble. But i you add up
all his sins, you get to 40 seconds at most. The rest
was just a boy being naughty. And whatever he got
up to, on the feld he always showed himsel, threw
himsel heart and soul into battle. What sometimes
annoys me now is that well-paid players, who are
adored like rock stars, behave dubiously o the feld
and that you see the consequences o that.
images DAVID RAMOS / GETTY IMAGES
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40 FOOTBALL+
8/6/2019 Football+ Jorge Valdano Interview
2/3
42 FOOTBALL+
+ Footballers have become real society fgures.
Real Madrid players now appear in ashion
shows, open nightclubs or trendy shops.
In my time as a player that was unthinkable, but then
it was 25 years ago. Its logical that some things have
changed. It doesnt really matter what players do in their
ree time, as long as they assume their responsibilities.
The public wont accept it i a well-paid perormer
messes up. The spectators demand discipline, and
want to see results. Those laws havent changed.
+ But the managers role has?
Clearly. The contact with the player used to be much
more direct. Now there are all sorts o layers in
between. I you need to speak to a player now, you
oten have to deal with his agent or agents. The biggest
stars have oten built a clan around themselves.Youre not just talking to the player, but to his whole
entourage. The players ather. The players publicity
agent. The players girlriend.
It quickly gets ormal. Its much harder now or a
coach to touch a player, or to correct him, i a wall has
been built up around him.
+ That doesnt sound like progress.
Its the times we live in, and you have to accept that. It
was simpler 25 years ago. A player was an employee,
with rights, but above all, lots o obligations. Now a
player is a company within a company, a publicity
machine, a role model, and oh yes, he plays ootball.
+ Youre in your second period as technical
director. In the frst era, Real bought galacticos,
great stars. Beckham had to come, so a crucial
player like Claude Makelele the teams cement
between the stones was sold to Chelsea. You
ought in vain to keep Makelele at Real, and soon
aterwards you drew your own conclusions and
let the club.
I dont want to say too much about that, because its
aqua pasada, water under the bridge, and moreoverits part o the intimacy o a club, but its clear to
me that Makelele was a key player or years, and in
addition the sort o player who is not easy to recognise
as such. We signed a number o wonderul, great
players like Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham, and
also several players came up rom the youth academy.
You have to watch a process like that closely. Eleven
stars dont make a team. You always also need
players like Xabi Alonso. Guys who might not look
so spectacular, but who can read a game. Who can
destroy a counter-attack by taking one step let or right.
Sometimes theres too little attention or that.
+ You returned in 2009 to a dierent situation.
Now Barcelona are ootballs ruling club. Did the
5-0 deeat in November make you despondent?
Not at all. This might sound strange, but Barcelonas
strength inspires us. This is the best FC Barcelona in
history! A team with three players competing or the
Golden Ball. A collection o players who can nd each
other even in the dark. But some teams have shown
that this team can be combated. The moment will
come when Barcelona awakens rom its dream.
That always happens in ootball. Barcelona is onthe crest o the wave.
Real Madrid is a team that introduced new players
again last summer. In two years time almost the
whole team has been renovated. You could even say
we have developed spectacularly. We can only get
stronger. Theres no reason to be despondent about
the uture. Now we have a side with an average age
o 24. Marcelo is 22, zil
enjoy them or years. Foo
Now its Barcelona, and t
these movements in ootb
You could say that the
style o play. Johan Cruy
club, rst as a player and
the head o Bara is a pe
respect or this culture to
Pep Guardiola [the curren
always dierent. At Real tor triumph. Theres an ad
who gives everything. Th
Maria has had such rapid
also a desire or spectacl
things here. In Barcelona
its the play, then the resu
You could say that i Ba
Cruy, Real Madrid is Alre
was a star who was totally
a deeat, it was best not to
teammates would be sca
would be spitting re. I th
orget about beauty and ju
player who has ever playe
has been infuenced by th
by the desire to win, Real
rom lost positions. Here t
+ But isnt the ootbal
right now the beautiu
always sought?
Haha! Im a great admirer
European and not a Span
and or me the Brazil o 19
o ootball. It contained a
ootball, though the Dutc
Ronaldo is a perect proessional. Almost obsessive.Ive never seen anyone with such a physique.Others get tired; he doesnt. At the end o the
game hes still as sharp as a jaguar
8/6/2019 Football+ Jorge Valdano Interview
3/3
44 FOOTBALL+
REAL
BIGEARNERS
FOR THE sixth straight year, Real Madrid have
topped the list o ootballs biggest money-making
clubs, generating A$596.21m in the fnancial year
ending June 30, 2010.
In its annual review o ootball, fnancial service
company Deloitte compiled a list o the highest-earning clubs in the world. The 11 top clubs are
shown below, with their place on the list the
previous year aterwards.
Footballs rich list
(in AustrAliAn dollArs)
1 Real Madrid, Spain, 596.2m (1)
2 Barcelona, Spain, 541.3m (2)
3 Manchester United, England, 475.6m (3)
4 Bayern Munich, Germany, 439.2m (4)
5 Arsenal, England, 372.7m (5)
6 Chelsea, England, 348.1m (6)
7 AC Milan, Italy, 320.7m (10)
8 Liverpool, England, 306.4m (7)
9 Inter Milan, Italy, 305.7m (9)
10 Juventus, Italy, 278.8m (8)
11 Manchester City, England, 207.8 m (20)
played it in a higher tempo. That Brazilian team had ve
No.10s, in dierent parts o the pitch.
+ You have always propagated beautiul ootball,
but last year Real hired a coach, Jos Mourinho,
who doesnt even aspire to beautiul ootball.
My views are well-known. I have described them
in ve books, and all my teams when I coached
Tenerie, Real Madrid and Valencia played the kind
o ootball I believed in. But its not my job to interpret
my own views. In my position o technical director, my
job is to interpret the views o the club. And with the
departure o experienced players like Ral and Guti,
and the introduction o young players, Real above all
needed a strong leader. That is Mourinho. He was the
coach this club needed. I am very happy with him.
+ You see Mourinho up close. How would you
describe him?
Hes a proessional obsessed by his work. Tactically
highly competent. Very knowledgeable about physical
preparation. A demanding coach.
+ Can you already see his hand in this team?
Yes, in its dedication. We havent yet lost a point
because the players werent trying hard enough. These
players give everything they have. Surely that must
have something to do with the coachs personality?
+ Is the Mourinho you see up close the loud,
shouty fgure that we see rom aar?
No. In the way great players and coaches are
perceived in the media, there is oten a colossal
misunderstanding. The Mourinho you see roma distance would not have the support o all his
players let alone o his ex-players. Almost nobody
who has worked under his discipline speaks badly o
Mourinho. Ive seen the same thing with many players,
like Ral: great ootballers who are nonetheless great
unknowns. Its incredible in this society o the image,
with the projection in the media that players have
today, that this situation is so common.
+ Is that because Mourinho is acting a role?
No, not at all. In his public appearances Mourinho
is very direct. He is so honest in his reactions that
his words are oten interpreted as provocations,
and lead to conficts. They are understood as signs
o aggression, whereas he only says what he truly
believes. In everything he says, he is mostly aiming to
protect his players or to stand up or the interests o the
club. What cannot be denied is that he is direct alsotowards the players. He demands a lot, imposes a lot.
They have more duties than liberties under this coach.
+ And yet you say theyre happy with him?
Thats a dierence with the past. When I was a player, I
and many o my teammates liked having more liberties
than duties. Today they seem to preer having more
duties than liberties. The modern ootballer seems to
preer a demanding coach who imposes a regime on
him. That makes them eel comortable. Everything
is clear, they know where they are, dont need to
worry about anything. You could see that as sae and
comortable. They dont seem to demand reedom.
And yet Real Madrid has some very s trong
personalities. We have Iker Casillas, captain o the
world champions. A very intelligent guy like Xabi
Alonso. Someone like Sergio Ramos, who has been
here or years. And a man like Cristiano Ronaldo with
his tremendous character. But they all ollow Mourinho.
He brings clarity and that was what this team and thisclub required. This is a club that moves amid great
turbulence. Its a universal ocus o news.
+ Cristiano Ronaldo is thriving here.
Cristiano is doing wonderully. But stars like him are
megastars in the media. So much nonsense gets told.
The acts are that Ronaldo averages a goal a match,
and is super-dominant in every game. Hes decisive.
Beore he arrived here, the photographers were lined
up in the nightclubs waiting or him. They are still
waiting. Ronaldo is a perect proessional, devoted to
his job. Almost obsessive. The training he does, both
technical and physical, is extreme. Hes a model in the
way he takes care o his body. Ive never seen anyone
with such a physique. Others get tired; he doesnt. Atthe end o the game hes still as sharp as a jaguar. I
the matches lasted 20 minutes longer, hed now have
twice as many goals. And how does he achieve that?
At training or in the night
gives a player rest. Rona
always wants to play, eve
+ Twenty-fve years a
Cup with Argentina. La
players won it with Sp
were there aspects yo
Football means a lot morago. What has stayed th
world title has. A player w
a leap in sel-condence.
enormous value in ootba
Beore 1978 Argentina w
country. Then the world t
with a second title, this o
rearmation o its great p
country develop into a gr
with Spain now: rst Euro
champions. Every little bo
can do that too. That gen
which can change the co
+ Do you oten think b
No, I dont live in the pas
with intense precision. In
clarity that eels almost p
watch the videos. I dont
+ Did you keep any sou
No, nothing. When the S
given their medals in Sou
shes 25 asked me whe
idea. My wie went lookin
it. Its now in a place whe
Mourinho is vHe is so hon
words are oten ias provocation
to confictsunderstood
aggression, w
only saytruly