Ser The Best tras el The Best

Madrid is seeking its ninth world title against the miraculous Pachuca. Camavinga, owner; Mbappé, doubt until the end. Rondón brings the danger and the legend.

Until the not-yet-born Club World Cup in the United States says otherwise, Qatar decides today which is the best team on the planet in the final of the Intercontinental, a tournament with a changing format that has survived 64 years. Born as a challenge between the champions of Europe and South America, in a double match, Madrid beat Peñarol in the first edition, in 1960. The model was maintained until 1980, sometimes precariously for the resignation of European teams due to the warlike atmosphere that prevailed in South American stadiums. Two editions were suspended (1975 and 1978) and in five others the runner-up attended. In 1980, and until 2004, the tournament began to be played as a single matchwith a failed experiment in 2000 in which clubs from all continents already participated. Madrid attended as a guest and finished fourth without losing a game.

Starting in 2005, this multicontinental formula was recovered, but with continuity. The champion of the Champions League and the champion of the Libertadores were granted the privilege of entering only from the semifinals. In the current edition comes the umpteenth change: the European team will only play in the final. In the sum of formats and denominations Madrid reigns, with eight titles, and today they are going for the ninth against Pachuca, six-time CONCACAF champion, only behind the also Mexican América.

The Aztec club shares with Recreativo de Huelva its status as the dean of football in its country (it was born in 1892) and its origin in the English mines of the Hidalgo region. It will be the second Mexican team to play in a final. The first, Tigres, fell in 2020 against Bayern.

Pachuca comes into the game at the end of a glorious cycle. Led by Guillermo Almada, the Uruguayan who has directed it since 2021, He has won four titles, including the last ‘Concachampions’, but now he shows signs of weakness. They finished second to last in the Apertura, with only three wins in 17 games and the two previous tournaments did not end well either. In fact, Almada has already announced to Jesús Martínez, president of the club, that His intention is to leave after this final. He confesses exhausted from having to reinvent himself every semester in such a youth club (a large part of the squad comes from the youth teams and stars like Hirving Lozano and Héctor Herrera were raised there) as a salesman.

That bad moment of the Tuzos (they take their name from a native mole, symbol of a mining region) has not been noticeable in this Intercontinental. They beat Brazilian Botafogo (3-0), champion of the Libertadores after a large investment in footballers, and They beat Egyptian Al Ahly on penalties, second team with the most international titles after Real Madrid. In both games they were dominated (33% possession against Botafogo), but they resisted. Against the Egyptians, miraculously after missing the first two shots of the round.

Madrid will find a team with very little territoriality outside of Mexico and with players with a past in the League. The best known, Borja Bastón, Atlético’s youth player and figure of the Spanish youth teams. He was Golden Boot in the 2009 U-17 World Cup and U-19 European Champion in 2011. At that time he was the starting nine ahead of Morata. Koke, Isco, Sergi Roberto and Muniain were his adventure companions. Then injuries prevented him from reaching where he was aiming, but he has had a long career (Murcia, Huesca, Deportivo, Zaragoza, Eibar, Swansea, Málaga, Alavés, Aston Villa, Leganés and Oviedo) before ending up, at the age of 32, at Pachuca. He doesn’t play too much here because he blocks his way. Salomón Rondón, a legend of Venezuela which also passed through Spain (Las Palmas and Málaga) and through the Premier. At 35 years old, he remains in the national team and is the leader of the team. The Dutchman of Moroccan nationality Idrissi, who had a brief and unsuccessful spell in Cádiz and Seville, and the Argentine central defender Cabral, who played seven seasons for Celta, They are other figures of a team that also has three Mexican internationals, two Ecuadorians and a Colombian.

A resistance match is expected from Pachuca, refugee in the traditional 4-2-3-1 of Almada, and a certain ease to counterpunch. With very little ball, Botafogo shot 15 times, six of them on goal.

Madrid arrives dressed to the nines, after Vinicius’ recognition as The Best, which the club takes as compensation for the Ballon d’Or, and with a qualified majority in the eleven of the year. However, the team’s reality now is not so bright. They do not lead the League, they suffer in the Champions League and appear weakened by injuries. In fact, until today the Mbappé mystery will not be cleared up. The impression left by the coach’s press conference and the Frenchman’s training is that he will be on his way out.

In the eleven the Vallecas defense is expected and Valverde, Camavinga and Bellingham are safe in the midfield and Vinicius up top. The two vacant places will depend on Mbappé and Ancelotti’s drawing, lately leaning towards 4-4-2, for a game that is always double-edged: it offers a title with a single effort of 90 or 120 minutes, but makes the defeat unforgivable due to the rival’s lack of resume.