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Which type of manager to Madrid need next season?<\/p>\n
Madrlieno<\/a> asks: Real Madrid have had a range of managers with different capabilities. Recently, they have ranged from dressing room managers like Ancelotti to tacticians like Alonso. What do you think is the ideal style for Madrid and who will be there next season?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markHistory suggests dressing-room managers and, if you listen to Steve McManaman (last night on TNT? I saw the clip somewhere), that\u2019s the natural way \u2026 I am a bit reluctant to make it either\/or. And it (rightly) annoyed both Ancelotti and Zidane that people thought they were \u2018just\u2019 man managers, as if that isn\u2019t difficult and\/or important anywhere. But this does talk to what we were discussing before: the idea of culture. There\u2019s also a contradiction in there with the president, who is the ultimate decision-maker. He is drawn to the idea of a coach who takes the players on, imposes, has authority all that stuff \u2026 but when it comes to it, doesn\u2019t reinforce their ability to do that, and players have the greater weight. Partly because he is convinced that is how it should be: there\u2019s only one Vin\u00edcius but loads of managers. At heart there\u2019s an idea that lingers that none of the managers matter really. They\u2019re kind of there to be sacked. (Or, preferably, to win.)<\/p>\n Real Madrid president Florentino P\u00e9rez (right), sat next to Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin. Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>What can be done to break Bar\u00e7a’s Liga F monopoly?<\/p>\n inwatermelonsugar<\/a> asks: My question is about women\u2019s football in Spain. Can anything be done to break the Bar\u00e7a monopoly in La Liga F? Are other clubs making investments or inroads to try to compete, or is it by necessity a race to see who can become the next best? Can you see a time when the best players at Bar\u00e7a might end up in other leagues due to lack of competition, not to mention the parent club\u2019s financial precariousness? (Perhaps winning never gets boring!)<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markInvestment and genuine commitment is the simple but also over-simplistic answer, I would suggest. Barcelona have such a head start, such a solid project, an academy structure, a financial structure, an ever-more consolidated place within its societal and sporting environment, that it can look like an impossible task. A race to be the next best would, I suppose, at least be a step towards being the best, to competing (from there). And yes, I can see a time where Barcelona too are impacted by it (already are); their own players are alerting to this, saying they want the league and other clubs to step up, and the financial difficulties of the club will make holding players harder of course<\/p>\n Alexia Putellas is hoisted aloft after Barcelona beat Real Madrid in this season\u2019s Women\u2019s Champions League. Photograph: Urbanandsport\/NurPhoto\/ShutterstockShare<\/a>Is money killing football?<\/p>\n CalumGilhooly<\/a> asks: Do you agree that money is killing football? Teams like Forest, Celtic, Ajax, Steaua will never be able to develop a team to compete now. Should we go back to the European Cup format where only the champions of each country (automatically) qualify, and it\u2019s a straight-up cup competition again, with no seedings, no draws to ensure the big boys avoid each other?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThis is such a broad question that I don\u2019t really know where to start. I suppose we would have to say: how are we defining \u2018killing football?\u2019 Which teams? Which elements of the game? And is it money alone that\u2019s doing that? Is a one-team European Cup the solution? And having watched the Champions League, if that came along now wouldn\u2019t we think \u2018this is a bit rubbish\u2019? Is having this big Champions League actually a bad thing? Or a good thing with bad elements, bad consequences, etc? At heart though, of course, there are too many aspects of the game that are driven by revenue above all else. And that idea of not being able to compete is true, yes. That said, is it true of Forest, for example? A Premier League team, if they got into the Champions League, for example, they would start with a budget bigger than most teams.<\/p>\n Nottingham Forest host Porto in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final later after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Photograph: Harriet Massey\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>Is Spanish dominance in Europe coming to an end?<\/p>\n Slimmorrell<\/a> asks: It feels as though the Spanish pre-eminence of European football is coming to an end, at least at the club level. We all thought that the physicality of Premier League teams would be what dominates, but the tiredness of the teams seems to be holding them back on that count. Bayern and PSG are stepping up. How is all of this viewed in Spain? Is it something that is talked about? If so what are the reasons behind it?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThis is another question that is deep, complex, and for which I don\u2019t have a simple answer.<\/p>\n Structurally, financially, the English teams are the strongest around, across the board. But super clubs (PSG, Bayern, RM, FCB) can match them, and their players are every bit as good or better. And then there are other elements in play. The physicality one is difficult to measure (or perhaps it\u2019s not: perhaps it\u2019s absolutely tangible, but I don\u2019t have the figures.) I saw that Arteta had said it is because the English schedule is so demanding and there may be something in that. But I would also think it is a partial answer, as well as being one that risks suggesting there aren\u2019t demands in other leagues, which I don\u2019t think is true. In any knockout competition there are of course circumstantial reasons: the draw, luck, etc \u2026<\/p>\n If we\u2019re asking why English teams didn\u2019t reach the semis, for example, I suppose there are also things like: well, Liverpool aren\u2019t very good (and played PSG); Newcastle, much the same with Barcelona; City messed up badly and were against RM.<\/p>\n Spanish pre-eminence ending in Europe: how are we defining Europe? They have teams left in all the European competitions. The financial disadvantages are real though, of course. So much so that the view from here is kind of that you can\u2019t compete with English clubs \u2026 and yet it then turns out, when the actual competition comes round, that mostly you can. But yes it\u2019s absolutely the case that in Europe the Premier League is looked upon as a problem, dominant, a kind of de facto super league. One of the things that is often said here is that Spanish clubs can\u2019t spend as much as that Spanish FFP rules should be abandoned \u2026 which seems to me to be exactly the kind of thinking that means FFP rules shouldn\u2019t be. But maybe there is a discussion to be had on relaxation of those \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n We briefly interrupt this Q&A to plug a fresh Sid piece: his interview with the Real Sociedad coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, who is leading the proud Basque club to only their fourth Copa del Rey final.<\/p>\n Pellegrino Matarazzo talks to Sid. Photograph: Aflo Co. Ltd.\/Alamy Stock Photo\/Alamy Live News.Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.11 EDT<\/p>\n Should Uefa interfere in domestic league fixtures?<\/p>\n ianu05<\/a> asks: PSG got time off from their league activities before and during their Champions League matches against Liverpool, doubtless giving them an advantage (and one that the Premier League, La Liga, etc would never sanction). Should Uefa stop this practice and mandate they fulfil their fixtures and put their reserves out if necessary (a la Atl\u00e9tico Madrid)? PSG\u2019s opponents in their league were against the postponement of these fixtures.<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThere\u2019s been a bit of discussion of this here \u2026 Real Madrid have had three Friday games to give them more time (the third is for the semi-final \u2026 which they don\u2019t now need, of course), but that\u2019s not the same as cancellation. I do feel like there should be some sort of universal rule yes, and yet, at the same time, the concept of Uefa interfering with domestic fixtures is hard to accept. Also, here\u2019s the thing: Spanish fixtures have more basic issues to deal with, in my view, than the fit with European games. And the opposition to PSG getting the change from the league highlights what I think is a key emotional\/conceptual problem with it: another advantage for a team that already has all of them.<\/p>\n Marquinhos and Matvey Safonov during PSG\u2019s win at Anfield. Photograph: Franck Fife\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>What has been the reaction to Camavinga’s crucial red card?<\/p>\n LouisLou<\/a> asks: How\u2019s the Camavinga sending off going down in Spain this morning, and how is it going down with you?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markOh, badly. Very, very badly. More badly than it should, in my opinion, although I can understand it.<\/p>\n Referee Slavko Vincic after sending off Eduardo Camavinga during Madrid\u2019s defeat to Bayern. Photograph: EyesWideOpen\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.58 EDT<\/p>\n Will Arteta head for La Liga after Arsenal?<\/p>\n DingALing<\/a> asks: Hello Sid, do you think Mikel Arteta will manage in Spain after he leaves Arsenal?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markIt would seem the logical step, wouldn\u2019t it? And yet \u2026 while his name has very occasionally been linked to Barcelona I don\u2019t quite see it, still less with the current discussion\/criticism on style. I suspect that he wouldn\u2019t want a step down now, so that rules out everyone else in Spain except Real Madrid (or maybe Atl\u00e9tico?) One consequence of what I guess we can call a \u2018Super Club\u2019 era is that it sometimes feels like, for the biggest managers (and players too I suppose), the options are actually quite limited. The Spanish national team one day? PSG? Manchester City \u2026 can you do that now, after Arsenal?<\/p>\n Mikel Arteta after Arsenal knocked out Sporting. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The GuardianShare<\/a>Why have Spanish clubs slumped domestically despite strong showings in Europe?<\/p>\n trollercoaster<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThere 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\u2019s success, built on money they didn\u2019t really have, was what brought their fall, for example). The short-term reason for some teams \u2013 look at Athletic this season, for example \u2013 is that they don\u2019t always have the resources for both competitions. There\u2019s definitely a financial component to it. Villarreal\u2019s relegation in 2012 was baffling but internally they had overspent \u2013 which is unlike them, a stable and financially strong club \u2013 although they did learn from that.<\/p>\n Look at the second division now and it is full of massive clubs (historically). Zaragoza are the really clear example \u2026 Sporting, M\u00e1laga, Depor, similar with Oviedo until last summer. Often laden with debt, often unready for the sudden fall off of income, etc \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.49 EDT<\/p>\n Does the ‘curse of Sid Lowe’ still exist?<\/p>\n GUnit<\/a> asks: Some years ago, us regular readers of your column had this running joke about the curse of Sid Lowe; ie whenever you\u2019d write an article praising a team, they\u2019d go and lose the next match. Would you say it\u2019s broken now?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markI don\u2019t know \u2026 I\u2019m not sure that I feel that the people I bigged up (early) have started suffering better fates \u2026 have they? It might not have been that bad before. Or maybe it was, ha.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a related issue here, actually, which is part of the daily battle \u2026 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\u2019m not totally mad: if it\u2019s cl\u00e1sico weekend then very likely that will be the focus). Which is why you get Legan\u00e9s or Levante.<\/p>\n Anyway, to the point: that means I am often \u201cgambling\u201d 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 \u2026 and so when I have written on say, aren\u2019t 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\u2019s no longer true. Usually that outweighs the feeling of \u201cah bollocks, now I\u2019ve cursed it and\/or look stupid\u201d. Not least, of course, because I won\u2019t have written it in the first place if I didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n Levante v Getafe in La Liga, last weekend. Photograph: Manuel Bruque\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.45 EDT<\/p>\n Where is Viktor Onopko?<\/p>\n CarlosZ<\/a> asks: Hi Sid, what became of Viktor Onopko?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe one and only Viktor Onopko! What a player. He\u2019s assistant coach of the Russian national team, I think.<\/p>\n I went to do a piece with the Spanish unemployed players team<\/a> 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\u2019t get the chance to speak to him and have regretted it ever since.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.45 EDT<\/p>\n Who will be Real Madrid’s next manager?<\/p>\n KratosBeThyName<\/a> asks: What\u2019s next for Real Madrid? Arbeloa\u2019s not gonna be there next season. Have you heard anything about who P\u00e9rez is targeting? (Not Klopp, I hope)<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markHe would love it to be J\u00fcrgen Klopp \u2026 which doesn\u2019t mean it will be. I\u2019m intrigued by this situation. We could be in for a long few months. And endless names.<\/p>\n I also think it needs more than just the change of name, it\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019t surprise me.<\/p>\n Could Trent Alexander-Arnold and J\u00fcrgen Klopp be reunited at the Bernab\u00e9u next season? Photograph: Adam Davy\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.34 EDT<\/p>\n What are this season’s feelgood stories in Spain?<\/p>\n stooze<\/a> asks: If you could choose one (or maybe two, three?) genuine feelgood stories from Spanish football this season \u2013 ones that virtually everyone in Spain would agree on \u2013 what would they be?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markSanti Cazorla, of course. (But maybe that is more last season than this, what with things not going quite so well now \u2026 ). Watching him get an ovation at every ground is lovely.<\/p>\n Vedat Muriqi: my word, he\u2019s amazing. And everyone loves him. Top character too. I\u2019m very, very close to considering him player of the year.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n Real Oviedo\u2019s 41-year-old talisman \u2013 and Sid Lowe favourite \u2013 Santi Cazorla. Photograph: Eloy Alonso\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.34 EDT<\/p>\n Is the Spanish press harsh on Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s playing style?<\/p>\n Goatse<\/a> asks: Has there ever been such loud, blanket, across-the-board outrage at Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s playing style from both the Spanish media and from Spanish fans as there has been around Arsenal from the English media and other clubs\u2019 fans for the past few months?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markDifficult to answer this because to be honest I\u2019m 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 Atl\u00e9tico fans will feel that they have felt the finger of accusation pointing at them often as well \u2026 I\u2019m not sure I would call it outrage, or across the board, but the accusation of anti-football, boring, etc \u2026 all that is there I guess.<\/p>\n It\u2019s 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 Atl\u00e9tico once, years ago in fairness, and saying \u201cChrist, they\u2019re a horrible team, aren\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n Diego Simeone during their win against Barcelona. Photograph: Europa Press Sports\/Europa Press\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.21 EDT<\/p>\n How will Atl\u00e9tico fare against Arsenal in the Champions League semis?<\/p>\n cordelspo<\/a> asks: Do you think Atl\u00e9tico will trouble Arsenal? They were hammered 4-0 in the group stages<\/a>; has anything changed since then to make you think there will be a different outcome?<\/p>\n And, on a similar theme, benjvj<\/a> asks: Good morning Sid, greetings from Valencia. What are Arsenal\u2019s chances in Madrid? Will the atmosphere be as wild as against Barcelona?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markAtl\u00e9tico have changed a lot since then \u2026 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\u2019s a momentum and a clarity about them now that wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n It feels like every year there\u2019s this almost existential debate about what Atl\u00e9tico 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. \u201cWe attack better than we defend,\u201d Diego Simeone says and he is right. In terms of the last Arsenal game and this one, I guess there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Not having seen enough of Arsenal I am unsure, but I would probably lean towards them as favourites, and I\u2019m intrigued to see the approach. Atl\u00e9tico 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.<\/p>\n Atl\u00e9tico Madrid celebrate after beating Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals. Photograph: Thomas Coex\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>How has Spanish football evolved during your career?<\/p>\n proevpete<\/a> 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?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThere are loads of elements to this, not least as it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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 \u2026 you can see shifts in the national team of course: they were like England, the \u201cbig\u201d 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 \u2026 and yet that does not entirely eclipse the other clubs, some of which are very big, and I\u2019m always very conscious of giving space and proper attention to the \u201cother 18\u201d. They often feel abandoned by Spanish media\/society, I think. In terms of reporting, that\u2019s central to it.<\/p>\n There\u2019s immediacy now of course; I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n Lamine Yamal of Barcelona celebrates scoring against Espanyol in La Liga earlier this month. Photograph: David Ramos\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a>How did you get into all things Spain?<\/p>\n tpth<\/a> asks: Sid! I\u2019m a massive fan of both your writing and the country about which you write. I\u2019m wondering how you learned to speak Spanish\/how you came to develop such an affinity for Spanish culture \u2013 I feel like I read you did an exchange year at some point?<\/p>\n Sid:<\/p>\n double quotation markThank you. And hello everyone. Tea made, so I\u2019m ready. (Which, erm, maybe undermines this first question\/answer a bit).<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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 \u2026 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. \u201cStudied\u201d, ahem. Played football too, although I then broke my ankle. Which was all part of it.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t know really, I guess it\u2019s 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n The view looking down Calle Mon towards Oviedo cathedral. Photograph: Ian Dagnall\/AlamyShare<\/a>Welcome<\/p>\n Sid Lowe is the Guardian\u2019s 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<\/a>, La Liga and beyond, post your questions below the line; he\u2019ll answer as many as he can from 12pm BST.<\/p>\n In the meantime, here\u2019s his report from Madrid<\/a>, where Atl\u00e9tico knocked Barcelona out of the quarter-finals, plus Andy Hunter\u2019s dispatch from PSG\u2019s win over Liverpool<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez collides with Atl\u00e9tico Madrid\u2019s goalkeeper Juan Musso. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n And after another dramatic night on Wednesday, here\u2019s Nick Ames on a classic<\/a> in Munich, where Bayern knocked out Real Madrid, plus Barney Ronay on Arsenal squeezing past Sporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n