Keeping the Stick: Illaramendi's Real reminder, Barca's growing confidence

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Asier Illaramendi has regularly been overshadowed by more high-profile Real Madrid team-mates since his arrival from Real Sociedad.

    I almost froze on Saturday night at the Basque derby between Real Sociedad and Eibar (1-0), the first such occasion that the two clubs – from the same Basque region of Gipuzkoa – have played each other in San Sebastián in the top flight. It was a 10pm kick-off, and Spain is not all sun and dancing Sevillanas. It can be a cold place in winter, and still feeling the shivers the following morning I nipped down to the beach for a jog. It was sunnier and brighter, but still bitterly cold.  

    Enjoying a post-run sit-down and a few mild stretches in the sand, my eyes strayed to a group of three dogs who were playing down by the water. One was black and sheep-doggish, the other was a white Labrador and the third member of the gang was beige coloured and of cross-bred origins. Let’s say they were three guys, for the sake of pronouns in the description below. Whether they’d been previously acquainted or not was difficult to tell, but they seemed to be getting along just fine. The black dog had a long stick in its mouth, and was running at some speed to keep it away from his two friends. They were all pretty fast, but the black sheep-dog was the better strategist, weaving left and right unpredictably, and even braking to fool his pursuers, who would shoot by, flummoxed by the trick. They seemed to play for ages, and as the black dog began to tire, he switched tactics. Every time either of his pursuers raced up to his flank, he simply moved the stick to the other side, so that his body was between the parallel dog and the object of desire. At high speed, and neck to neck, neither of the other dogs could ever get within biting distance of the stick. Eventually, tired of the black dog’s relentless possession game, the beige hound and the Labrador gave up.

    It’s not that Real Madrid’s Asier Illarramendi looks like any of the three dogs. He’s certainly slower than his colleagues, but the man whose name means ‘Pea Mountain’ in his native tongue, Basque, is a handsome enough fellow. As you may know, his club have just signed Lucas Silva, the young Brazilian star from Cruzeiro, to add to the already swollen ranks of midfielders in their squad – Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez, Sami Khedira, Isco et al. The signing of Lucas would seem to be a further hint from the club to poor Illarra that the Dh130 million (€25m) offer on the table from Athletic Bilbao might be worth taking up and that they already consider him surplus to requirements, only a year and a half after buying him for Dh156 million (€38m) from Real Sociedad. So, I hear you say – what’s the dog-on-the-beach link?

     

    Well, Kroos and Isco are good at it, but the most crucial feature of a midfielder is the ability to never give the ball away, neither when in possession nor passing it. The black dog was formidable. Nothing would have persuaded him to allow the other two to get the stick. His whole being depended on this principle, and his body flanking trick was simple and effective. Illarramendi does this better than any other player at Real Madrid, which was presumably the reason why they bought him. But he’s neither flash or armed with sound-bites, he sells few shirts, is discreet and shy, and his best work remains unnoticed by the public and press – although fellow players understand his contribution. He has no 40-yard passes in his repertoire but the simplicity of his game, anticipating and robbing, fending off challenges by turning the stick away from his pursuers, calming the storm then setting up a counter with a simple but calculated change of direction, is worth its weight. Few professional players can actually keep the stick like he does. No great side has ever really lasted without this sort of ‘hub’ player, the ball-winning metronome. As Jorge Valdano once said (in Spanish), “There are players who, if you leave them in a forest without a compass, they’ll always find their way out. Most players will get lost.” Illarramendi, if you give him a chance, always emerges from the forest.

    Considering Real Madrid’s post-Christmas mini-crisis, Cristiano Ronaldo morphing into one of his moody periods and club icon Sergio Ramos turning down an extension to his contract, the signing of Lucas and Norway’s child-prodigy Martin Ödegaard almost seemed calculated to divert attention from the negativity suddenly surrounding the club. The Madrid press almost seemed to be inviting Illarra to accept Bilbao’s offer and to soften the blow of their recent outgoings, but in the second half at Cordoba, when he came on for a struggling Sami Khedira, the game changed immediately. Madrid reasserted control, retained possession much more efficiently, and drew Cordoba’s fire. Is he really surplus to requirements?

    “There are players who, if you leave them in a forest without a compass, always find their way out. Most players get lost.”

    It’s true that when Modric comes back, the centre of midfield looks well catered for. But Isco is often more effective playing higher, between the lines, and Modric, tenacious though he is, likes to be shielded and supplied. Kroos can do all this and more, but it’s not his natural role to be the pivot. Illarra is the closest Madrid will ever get again to Xabi Alonso, and even then they’re not quite same sort of player. He also gives them alternatives in style, and allows for more squad rotation as the season begins to take its toll on the ever-presents. It’s simply baffling too, that a club can fork out so much only to dispense with a player so quickly. Presumably they had understood his profile? And why did they not loan him back to Sociedad last season and allow him to develop further? It’s almost an obscene form of control-freakery – buying all and sundry just in case they might be bought by another of Europe’s aristocrats. Meanwhile, the club that discovered and nurtured him gets the money, but loses the talent. To rub it in even further, Illarra has to decide whether to provoke the ire of his fans at his former club by moving to their rivals.

    The feeling that the power-base has shifted slightly, back towards the Camp Nou, was endorsed by the Catalans’ huge 6-0 win at Elche, in which Neymar and Lionel Messi continued to score freely and also demonstrate their growing (and scary) mutual understanding. The two of them have now scored 50 goals between them in all competitions this season (Messi 31, Neymar 19). Since losing in Anoeta, Barcelona have beaten Atlético Madrid in both the league and cup and totalled 10 without reply against Elche and Deportivo. Not bad for a club in crisis. On Wednesday they travel to the Calderon to protect their 1-0 lead in the Copa del Rey, and next weekend they have a tasty-looking game at home to in-form Villarreal, both games offering a good test of whether they really are on a happier course. They’ll need to be, and so will Real Madrid, with Atlético still close behind and Valencia tucked into 4th spot on 41 points, close enough to be threatening. Valencia ruined Sevilla’s hopes of climbing higher by beating them 3-1 at the Mestalla in the weekend’s biggest game, thus confirming their recovery and growing confidence.

    As we pointed out last week, this is the most open La Liga for some years, despite the predictable look of the top three positions so far. It would take a brave punter to bet on the winner, given the ups and downs the big two have experienced so far, despite the points they’ve garnered. Real Madrid might not think so, but I reckon they’ll stand more chance if they keep their least spectacular but potentially safest performer in their ranks. 

     

    Recommended