These have been an interesting few days in Spanish football around the subject of how we treat our stars, what we expect them to accept, and whether or not we are properly protecting them. It’s a morality tale that includes Kylian Mbappé, Carlo Ancelotti, Gavi and that will extend to Vinícius Júnior, and it emerged on Saturday when Spanish and European champions, Real Madrid, were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at relegation-threatened Espanyol.
Los Blancos have recently restored one of their most thrilling, most chilling skills: The ability to retrieve possession around their own penalty area and, via no more than three or four passes, be up at the other end of the pitch scoring a dazzling goal somewhere between 14-18 seconds later. It’s sporting lightning.
Against the blue-and-white club in Barcelona, Ancelotti’s team were unleashing one of these extraordinary counter-attacks, with Mbappé in full flight, when the guy who would become the infamous name of the evening lunged wildly at the Frenchman. His name is Carlos Romero and by the end of the match, he’d be enjoying the greatest moment of his short career by virtue of scoring the winner. But in the instant when he thought that Espanyol’s world was about to collapse, he attempted the ugliest of fouls to bring Mbappé down, at any cost, by diving, leg-extended, to rake his boot down the back of the forward’s calf.
Although the referee correctly let the move flow to see whether it ended in advantage or even a goal for Madrid, the absolute requirement was that, immediately after the play stopped, this should merit a red card. Neither the on-pitch referee, nor his companion in the VAR room, considered this a foul worthy of expulsion. It became one of the worst decisions in recent Spanish football.
While not sending Romero off was ludicrous, the fact that he was at the back post to volley home a wonderful right-wing cross, thus reducing Madrid to holding just a one-point lead over Atletico going into the derbi this weekend, made things much worse. (Stream LIVE: Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid, Saturday, 2:50 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
Chapter two came the following day and is far more uplifting as finally, the clear-cut fact that repeated head trauma has a direct impact on the likelihood of post-career issues like dementia and Alzheimer’s is being taken into account and awareness has grown.
The incident where Barcelona’s Gavi clashed heads badly with the Alavés attacker, Tomás Conechny, was sickening. It’s simple misfortune, but it held the potential to be pretty devastating for both men. It also came against the context of Atletico Madrid treating Robin Le Normand‘s head injury in October with stringent care. The Spanish international defender suffered a serious concussion, Atleti kept him out of action, observed him, and did not let him play again for 61 days — a total of 12 missed matches.
Bravo to Atletico.
So, back to Sunday. Gavi’s collision with Conechny left him dazed and confused, his fate in the hands of Barcelona’s long-term club doctor and his coach, Hansi Flick.
If you know little of Gavi, let me assure you that he is an absolute warrior who bristles with competitive spirit. What ensued was the traditional picture of an athlete who is so dazed that he can’t see the sense in withdrawing from play, instead determined to get back on and get on with work.
The doctor asks him what day it is, he has no idea. He is able to quote the kickoff time of the match, but it becomes evident he’s suffered a bad head trauma. The laudable moment comes when Flick, who is trying to buck the trend of his team losing important matches at home, nevertheless turns to the doctor and says: “it’s your decision” (i.e. not the player’s) and then tries to console Gavi with the concept that he’s being protected, and that his wellbeing is more important than three points.
It was wonderful to see.
I admit to a minor personal stake in this argument because my 88-year-old father, a wonderful man who introduced me to sport and all its beauties, was amongst other things, a boxer and a rugby player. We’re all pretty certain that the number of times he took blows to the head have helped cause the Alzheimer’s from which he suffers quite badly.
It’s also true that over the next few days, I will be attending the funerals of two terrific football men, both of whom mattered very much to me: Jimmy Calderwood, who played in midfield with Louis van Gaal and played against Johan Cruyff, a Scotsman somehow cutting it in Dutch football, and my fellow Aberdonian, Denis Law — the only Ballon d’Or winner Scotland has ever produced, a wonderful man, a prodigious header of the football, and also somebody, like Calderwood, whose death was principally caused by Alzheimers. Sadly, it’s too late for them, but we all share the responsibility to ensure that current generations are properly protected, that we learn the lessons which were ignored in previous decades so that the people who now thrill and delight us remain of sound mind right through to their latter years.
Progress in protecting talented players from foul play, as the referees showed when Español beat Real Madrid, can be made, but then abandoned or undermined. Progress, as clubs and referees have shown in the case of footballers with concussions or victims of racial abuse needing protection, can be become the norm.
All of this, I believe, has echoes of the constant battle against racism in sport. All of us — from legislators to fans, sponsors, clubs, players, managers and the media — have a responsibility to continue reporting, informing, and confronting such abuse. The initiatives to protect players from physical damage on the pitch, whether from deliberate foul tackling or head clashes, are positive, but the past few days have shown that such progress can be interrupted.
For those of us committed to improving the way players are treated, thought about, talked about and protected, I believe these have been informative incidents. It’s an imperfect, frustrating and often slow battle, but one that’s worth our effort.
