The bad Januarys of Madrid and the "valley" of the success of "sergeant" Pintus: "From February the level will rise"

• Cristiano Ronaldo King of Riyadh, a whim of Arabia and a pinch of 300,000 million to invest: "It is part of Vision 2030"

The

players come out of the changing room tunnel and walk towards

.

They make a circle, chat, laugh for a few seconds and applaud.

The training begins.

Then, all eyes turn to

.

The Italian physical trainer begins a slight career and all the footballers follow him, without question.

Him, a few meters ahead.

They behind, waiting for further orders from their "

".

A few minutes later, the squad splits up for a quick rondo session to warm up with the ball.

A few meters away, Pintus receives a visit from Ancelotti.

The coach of the white team approaches to ask and receives some details about the exercises that they are going to carry out.

He short and at the foot, as they say.

, of course, and returns with the rest of the coaching staff.

Once the session has been summed up to the head coach, Pintus turns his gaze towards his assistants, to whom he distributes tasks, and walks towards the other end of the field.

He does not do it with his head bowed or thoughtful, but with his gaze straight ahead and an expression that is almost scary.

He said it: «A sergeant».

From his destination, 60 meters away, he alone,

and calls his footballers, who form two lines to do physical exercises.

«Let

!

Let

! », He repeats to them.

There are no laughs.

' begins every day

in Madrid.

"He is a sergeant on the field, but off it he is one of the most affectionate of our entire expedition," they say at the club.

star signing

In the summer of 2016,

recommended his signing and Madrid got the coach to reject an agreement with

to fly to

.

The

bear his stamp.

In 2019, after the departure of

and Zidane and with a white team from 'between the wars', his work was not enough to lift important titles and

.

But Madrid, convinced of his effectiveness and as if he were just another star in the locker room, 'played him back' in the

.

The result:

.

How important is Pintus in that?

«

», answer those who know the Madrid first team best.

The '

' draws «

» in the Madrid calendar, defined by Valdebebas.

It depends on the type of matches that the Whites have to play and how demanding they are, but this is almost always the case.

This season, for example, Ancelotti's men showed an excellent level in the

, they started the season with

and two draws between the League and the Champions League (eight of them in a row) and

. with the pass to the next round of the European Cup practically assured.

There began the descent into the valley.

Draw against

, defeat in

and the World Cup.

The tournament dispute "may have affected" Madrid mentally, as Ancelotti admitted, but the physical part is calculated like any other season.

January is "

" and from mid-February, coinciding with the Club World Cup final (always an important title for whites) and the round of

tie against

.

The great objective of each season.

Without discussion.

That January is the valley month of Pintus is explained by the data from Madrid that month under his mandate.

4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in 16-17, when he was eliminated from the Cup by Celta;

4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in 17-18, losing in the Cup against Leganés;

6 wins and 2 losses in 18-19 and 5 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, including the cup elimination against Athletic, in 21-22, the first of his second stage.

This year, you know, Madrid won in Valladolid, lost in Villarreal and suffered to beat Valencia in the Super Cup.

Removing those penalties, there are

led by Pintus.

Curiously, the first year that Madrid was without him, 19-20,

(7 of 7), something that helped them win the League after the pandemic, but they fell in the Champions League round of 16.

Pure valley of Pintus.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Carlo Ancelotti

• Real Madrid

• Spain Supercup