Key events
Why have Spanish clubs slumped domestically despite strong showings in Europe?
trollercoaster asks: Why have so many Spanish clubs competing in the Champions League or European Cup been relegated? It happened with Real Betis and with Villarreal. We have seen leading Spanish clubs fall to the second division and even to lower leagues, see Deportivo.
Sid:
There are lots of elements at play here, and they are not all the same going back over time, as the structure of Spanish football has changed (collective TV deal, etc), while some clubs had their own specific issues (Depor’s success, built on money they didn’t really have, was what brought their fall, for example). The short-term reason for some teams – look at Athletic this season, for example – is that they don’t always have the resources for both competitions. There’s definitely a financial component to it. Villarreal’s relegation in 2012 was baffling but internally they had overspent – which is unlike them, a stable and financially strong club – although they did learn from that.
Look at the second division now and it is full of massive clubs (historically). Zaragoza are the really clear example … Sporting, Málaga, Depor, similar with Oviedo until last summer. Often laden with debt, often unready for the sudden fall off of income, etc …
Does the ‘curse of Sid Lowe’ still exist?
GUnit asks: Some years ago, us regular readers of your column had this running joke about the curse of Sid Lowe; ie whenever you’d write an article praising a team, they’d go and lose the next match. Would you say it’s broken now?
Sid:
I don’t know … I’m not sure that I feel that the people I bigged up (early) have started suffering better fates … have they? It might not have been that bad before. Or maybe it was, ha.
There’s a related issue here, actually, which is part of the daily battle … most pieces are on-demand, so to speak, (the desk asks about an issue or I suggest an issue or whatever), but on Mondays, the regular column linked to the weekend games, I more or less write what I want (over a 38-week season there might be three or four weeks when the desk suggests/wants a certain topic and I’m not totally mad: if it’s clásico weekend then very likely that will be the focus). Which is why you get Leganés or Levante.
Anyway, to the point: that means I am often “gambling” on a subject: which game to go to, where I think a story might be, who the overachievers are, whether I can afford to wait a few weeks to do them and so on … and so when I have written on say, aren’t Getafe amazing, and the week after they lose, well, usually I am happy about that and think thankfully I got it out when it was true, rather than missing the chance to write a good story by waiting and then next week it’s no longer true. Usually that outweighs the feeling of “ah bollocks, now I’ve cursed it and/or look stupid”. Not least, of course, because I won’t have written it in the first place if I didn’t really think so. Some weeks you have loads of topics to choose from; some weeks, in truth, you wake on Monday morning empty-handed and panicking.
Where is Viktor Onopko?
CarlosZ asks: Hi Sid, what became of Viktor Onopko?
Sid:
The one and only Viktor Onopko! What a player. He’s assistant coach of the Russian national team, I think.
I went to do a piece with the Spanish unemployed players team a few years ago and they played CSKA and he was there as assistant to Slutsky, if memory serves. I missed him post game, didn’t get the chance to speak to him and have regretted it ever since.
Who will be Real Madrid’s next manager?
KratosBeThyName asks: What’s next for Real Madrid? Arbeloa’s not gonna be there next season. Have you heard anything about who Pérez is targeting? (Not Klopp, I hope)
Sid:
He would love it to be Jürgen Klopp … which doesn’t mean it will be. I’m intrigued by this situation. We could be in for a long few months. And endless names.
I also think it needs more than just the change of name, it’s also about culture and power at the club. And the perception of a need to change that was already there, which is why the sacking of Xabi Alonso doesn’t only feel like a pity but also a missed opportunity. There is, I think, an irritation at his sacking that is not just about him as a coach but what he symbolised, what he was supposed to bring, and the fact that it was undermined by his authority effectively being removed. As for a name, someone like Mauricio Pochettino wouldn’t surprise me.
What are this season’s feelgood stories in Spain?
stooze asks: If you could choose one (or maybe two, three?) genuine feelgood stories from Spanish football this season – ones that virtually everyone in Spain would agree on – what would they be?
Sid:
Santi Cazorla, of course. (But maybe that is more last season than this, what with things not going quite so well now … ). Watching him get an ovation at every ground is lovely.
Vedat Muriqi: my word, he’s amazing. And everyone loves him. Top character too. I’m very, very close to considering him player of the year.
I would love to say Lamine Yamal as this incredible kid who might well be the best in the world and lead Spain to the World Cup, but of course that has not been as clear as it felt at the Euros (and even then there were some who resisted), when he felt more like he was everyone’s …
Is the Spanish press harsh on Atlético’s playing style?
Goatse asks: Has there ever been such loud, blanket, across-the-board outrage at Atlético’s playing style from both the Spanish media and from Spanish fans as there has been around Arsenal from the English media and other clubs’ fans for the past few months?
Sid:
Difficult to answer this because to be honest I’m not entirely sure about the UK media/societal/fan response to Arsenal. But, not being RM or FCB, having a defensive identity (previously, but it lingers here too), having a coach like Simeone, I would say that Atlético fans will feel that they have felt the finger of accusation pointing at them often as well … I’m not sure I would call it outrage, or across the board, but the accusation of anti-football, boring, etc … all that is there I guess.
It’s not all cliche of course, and cliches and stereotypes are often rooted in some truth. I remember an opposition coach coming past me after a game at Atlético once, years ago in fairness, and saying “Christ, they’re a horrible team, aren’t they?”
How will Atlético fare against Arsenal in the Champions League semis?
cordelspo asks: Do you think Atlético will trouble Arsenal? They were hammered 4-0 in the group stages; has anything changed since then to make you think there will be a different outcome?
And, on a similar theme, benjvj asks: Good morning Sid, greetings from Valencia. What are Arsenal’s chances in Madrid? Will the atmosphere be as wild as against Barcelona?
Sid:
Atlético have changed a lot since then … or sort of. Their title challenge, insofar as there was ever one, was over by Christmas really and there have been evolutions, shifts, changes in form. I think there’s a momentum and a clarity about them now that wasn’t there before. An obvious, if simplistic example: Antoine Griezmann and Koke were supposed to be getting phased out but are among the best and will play now. Griezmann is sensational. Marcos Llorente has been full-back and midfielder, and is a freak of nature.
It feels like every year there’s this almost existential debate about what Atlético are and at some point along the way they sort of find themselves. What they are not, by the way, is what so many people seem to think they are. “We attack better than we defend,” Diego Simeone says and he is right. In terms of the last Arsenal game and this one, I guess there’s the change in Arsenal themselves and also the very basic thing which is that it is a different context now than in the league phase.
Not having seen enough of Arsenal I am unsure, but I would probably lean towards them as favourites, and I’m intrigued to see the approach. Atlético and Barcelona have played six times this season and all of the games have been different. The atmosphere should be great, although maybe not quite at the level of the Barcelona game.
How has Spanish football evolved during your career?
proevpete asks: Hi Sid. How has La Liga and Spanish football more broadly changed since you started your reporting career? And how has the actual reporting of it changed in that time as well?
Sid:
There are loads of elements to this, not least as it’s a long time, and there have definitely been big shifts economically and so on, and obviously a lot of it is societal, which is being played out everywhere not just here.
I think some parts remain the same, the quality of the football, the taste for technique (in very broad terms, as there are a million caveats), lots of players coming through … you can see shifts in the national team of course: they were like England, the “big” team that never won and that has changed. Obviously, I think the big difference between Spain and elsewhere (well, England in this case), is the dominance of two teams … and yet that does not entirely eclipse the other clubs, some of which are very big, and I’m always very conscious of giving space and proper attention to the “other 18”. They often feel abandoned by Spanish media/society, I think. In terms of reporting, that’s central to it.
There’s immediacy now of course; I’m not pre-internet, but it has changed completely, the platforms and tools, etc. The content shift, which has been played out everywhere I think, but is much more accentuated here than anywhere else, is the increase of the shouty-confrontational stuff, which I find utterly tedious to be honest.
How did you get into all things Spain?
tpth asks: Sid! I’m a massive fan of both your writing and the country about which you write. I’m wondering how you learned to speak Spanish/how you came to develop such an affinity for Spanish culture – I feel like I read you did an exchange year at some point?
Sid:
Thank you. And hello everyone. Tea made, so I’m ready. (Which, erm, maybe undermines this first question/answer a bit).
I suppose the simple answer is: people. And, in truth, while I do think Spain is special and there are lots of very good reasons to believe it’s different, who knows, it might have worked out the same way if somehow I had ended up in Italy or France or Germany or wherever. The practical answer, which takes in the language and, from there, I guess the affinity, is that I did Spanish at school (as well as French).
There was a school exchange to Lorca, in Murcia, of all places. Tiny little town. This is 1990, I think. And I turned up with no Spanish at all. But the family were lovely, all the kids on the trip (including the English ones) were great, and I found myself suddenly thinking actually this isn’t so hard. The language, I mean. I came back and really through myself into it, reading in Spanish (kids books, nothing clever) and translating and stuff … then, to give the brief version, GCSE, A-level and my degree was Spanish and history. The history was the part that really drew me in I think. Third year of University was Erasmus year in Oviedo, which is a step again. Studied there. “Studied”, ahem. Played football too, although I then broke my ankle. Which was all part of it.
Again: people. I did a Masters and PhD in Spanish political history which brought me back, this time to Madrid. I am, in part, an accidental journalist. And then I don’t know really, I guess it’s just being here and enjoying it, having an interest. In truth at times now, at my old age, busy with work and stuff, I sometimes feel like I don’t get as culturally engaged and immersed as I might/should, but it is true that the writing about football is always about society and people too for me and means engaging with all those kind of questions as well.
Welcome
Sid Lowe is the Guardian’s Spanish football correspondent, based in Madrid, and has been covering an increasingly busy beat for years. And after a busy week of action in the Champions League, La Liga and beyond, post your questions below the line; he’ll answer as many as he can from 12pm BST.
In the meantime, here’s his report from Madrid, where Atlético knocked Barcelona out of the quarter-finals, plus Andy Hunter’s dispatch from PSG’s win over Liverpool.
And after another dramatic night on Wednesday, here’s Nick Ames on a classic in Munich, where Bayern knocked out Real Madrid, plus Barney Ronay on Arsenal squeezing past Sporting.
