Nacho confident in Real Madrid without Zidane and Ronaldo

GQ interviewed Nacho about the upcoming season for Real Madrid and asked how they’ll do without Zidane and Ronaldo.

“They’ve been two very important people, but we’re going to strengthen and fight for everything to come.”

“We have great confidence in ourselves.”

“It’s clear that Zizou and Cris have been essential in the last few years but life goes on without them.”

“We have to develop our strengths and continue competing.”

Nacho, who recently came out and said that he wants to finish his career at the Bernabéu, is the prime example of a club lifer. A player who was raised in the Real Madrid youth system and Castilla and has been at the club ever since, he’s truly a workhorse. Players that stay at one club for their whole careers have become quite rare in recent history.

The important thing to draw from this GQ interview is that the players are staying confident without two of their most important figures, which should be expected. While it obviously hurts to lose any form of extraordinary talent, the club and players must move on and try to salvage a successful season without them. And the most positive thing is that the players believe in themselves to do it.

Arturo Vidal takes shots at Real Madrid’s Champions League wins

Recent Barcelona signing Arturo Vidal had some thoughts about Real Madrid and their recent Champions League success in an interview with Mundo Deportivo.

“With VAR, Bayern would have two more Champions League titles and Madrid two less.”

“I want to win everything, my favorite title is the Champions League.”

Well, it’s no stretch to say that Vidal fits right in with Barcelona already. I wouldn’t take his comments to heart too much, they’re more comical than anything else. Sounds a bit like sour grapes, Real Madrid arguably had the hardest knockout rounds in the Champions League this past season.

I do think it’s quite arrogant to assume that had Bayern beat Real the last two years, in both the quarter and semi-finals respectively, they would’ve been the ones crowned champions of Europe. There’s no reason to assume Bayern would’ve won the Champions League guaranteed had Real not eliminated them in both 2017 and 2018.

For Vidal and his “favorite” trophy, one he’s never even touched personally, third time will have to be a charm at Barcelona, as he’s failed to win the Champions League at both the top clubs in Italy and Germany.

This adds a bit of flavor to El Clásico this season though, as Vidal clearly despises Real Madrid. It’ll be great to see him bring that anger into the first Clásico in October....until he’s red carded 10 minutes in.

LaLiga president says “no” on U.S. Clásico

In the last Notes & Quotes, we talked about the 15-year deal that would have one league match in the U.S. every season, already given my thoughts on this as well. LaLiga president Javier Tebas gave his ruling on whether or not El Clásico would be featured in this deal in an interview with El Mundo.

“No, logistically, the Clásico in New York is not viable. At least the league Clásico.”

The first U.S. El Clasico was last offseason when the two Spanish giants played each other in Miami. It appears as though Tebas is denying a Clásico that is worth 3 points in the league standings.

The deal is rumored to require the top 5 or 6 teams in LaLiga, so there’s no way of knowing how much Real Madrid would actually feature since it’s only one match per season. This does make it even less interesting though, as you wouldn’t even try and have arguably the biggest rivalry feature in the U.S. and have it actually mean something in the standings this time around.