Nuri Shahin – the Young Gun on the Sidelines
Ah, Nuri Shahin. It’s like Dortmund asked a toddler to coach at the playground! The youngest coach in the Bundesliga and Champions League at just 36—he’s just a year older than my last attempted yoga class, and that was a disaster. And here he is, standing on the sidelines of Borussia Dortmund, preparing to face off against Real Madrid, the football equivalent of facing your father-in-law at Thanksgiving—a lot of expectations and potential for disaster!
Five months ago, Shahin was merely the assistant coach as Dortmund lost to the Blancos in the Champions League final. Now, with Trezic given the boot faster than you can say “sacked”, he’s flying solo—like a teenager who just got their driving permit. Dortmund has a history of betting on young managers, and given that Klopp and Tuchel turned their coaching careers into something resembling the Bundesliga version of “The Avengers,” who knows where Shahin will end up? Perhaps, if he’s lucky, he’ll have a fairy tale ending or at least some popcorn rights to ‘Bundesliga: The Movie.’
But let’s take a moment to appreciate his past—the 2010/2011 season, when he was the darling of the fans, scoring goals and collecting accolades like it was going out of style! He was the German footballer of the year, the apple of their eye. Fast forward to his time in Madrid where he had all the glory of a ‘celebrity chef’ with an empty restaurant—one season, ten appearances, and one goal! Talk about a ‘better luck next time’ badge.
Now he’s returning to the Santiago Bernabeu, but this time he’s not just a kid looking for his juice box. This time, there’s a chance he might actually take home some sweets, assuming any of his players can find the goal. Will he find redemption, or will he be sent packing with a ‘thanks for playing’ souvenir?
Luka Modric – Age is Just a Number
On the topic of age-defying legends, let’s talk Luka Modric, who has officially become the granddad of Real Madrid at 39 years old and counting! When he came off the bench against Celta Vigo, it only took him three minutes—three minutes!—to throw a genius pass that led to a goal. I mean, at that age, I can barely throw my remote control without the risk of injury.
In a league packed with young guns, Modric’s still showing them how it’s done. Breaking Puskas’s almost 60-year record for being the oldest player to don the famed white shirt is pretty legendary—sorry, Puskas, but what have you done for me lately? And with 27 titles to his name, he’s basically the “King of Bling” in La Liga’s trophy cabinet. Ancelotti says he’s fantastic, but really, is he just saying that because he scares him into keeping fit?
There’s no retirement for Modric in sight. If he has his way, he’ll still be playing when next year’s kindergarten kids are all grown-up—and you know that’s pushing it, but hey, keep on trucking, Luka!
Kylian Mbappe – Drama King in the Making
Now, onto Kylian Mbappe, who seems to dominate the headlines like a diva at a music festival—always in the spotlight, and not shy about it! With eight goals already this season, he seems to be on a mission to let everyone know he’s the boss. It’s like he’s saying, ‘Criticize me? Watch this!’ Then he blitzes through defenses like a hot knife through butter—dangerously smooth and possibly a bit alarming.
However, let’s not forget the drama surrounding him. It’s lively enough to be a Friday night soap opera: rumors, controversies, and a few dodgy decisions here and there. The French foreign ministry and Ancelotti trying to wrap this up like it’s a 5-star vacation package does not inspire confidence. Florentino Perez might just be sweating bullets, knowing a superstar can quickly turn into a starlet causing more headaches than a night out in Vegas!
Perez’s dream of having Mbappe as the face of Madrid may just come with a ‘buyer beware’ label. If Kylian thinks he’s bigger than the club, well, that’s the slippery slope to trouble. Is Mbappe destined to face the music—or will he keep knocking goals in, leaving Perez in awe while wondering if he’s really captain of this ship, or merely a passenger along for the ride? Only time will tell, but it will definitely be a journey worth watching!
So, to wrap this up—will Shahin right the ship at Dortmund? Will Modric continue to defy gravity? Will Mbappe get his act together? Tune in next time for more dramatic twists in the world of football because if there’s one thing we know, it’s never dull around here!
Nouri Shahin – a corrective experience
The youngest coach in the Bundesliga and the Champions League is Nuri Shahin, who just a month and a half ago celebrated his 36th birthday, and here tonight he will stand on the lines of Borussia Dortmund for the biggest game in his short coaching career, away against Real Madrid.
Shaheen was already sitting on Dortmund’s bench less than five months ago in the Champions League final at Wembley, when the Blancos won 0:2. He was then still the assistant coach of Edin Trezic, who was fired a few days later. The Turkish was appointed in his place in a move that was considered a big gamble, because until then he had only coached Antalyaspor for two years. But that’s how it is in Dortmund, a club that has always believed in young coaches, and it worked out quite well for them in the past with Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel.
And yet there is a difference. Unlike the latter two, Shaheen was a star on a team that the fans adored. He was one of the most prominent in winning the warning championship of the 2010/2011 season, when under Klopp a formidable squad was built, which also reached the final of the Champions League two years later. Shaheen was then chosen as the footballer of the season in Germany. Following that success, Real Madrid decided to purchase him. Jose Mourinho then believed that the 23-year-old midfielder would be a superstar in the Blancos uniform, and Shaheen signed a six-year contract.
Nuri Shahin in his days as a Real Madrid player. Would rather forget, photo: X
Only that plans are separate and reality is separate. Shaheen actually played only one season at Real, making only 10 appearances (4 in the league) and scoring a single goal. “I was sure I was good enough to play for Real Madrid,” he said. “I was a super player, but that’s not always enough. When you’re at Real Madrid, you also have to be mentally strong. I was injured and I couldn’t come back from the injuries. I couldn’t stand the pressure. Maybe I wasn’t patient enough.”
12 years after he left Real Madrid without realizing his dream, Nuri Shahin returns to the Santiago Bernabeu tonight – and this time as a coach he hopes for a positive experience.
Luka Modric – age and exercise
In the 51st minute of Saturday’s league game in Blaydos, Real Madrid conceded an equalizer from Celta Vigo, who stormed forward with the goal of beating the European champions. But then the 63rd minute arrived, and Carlo Ancelotti brought Luka Modric off the bench to replace Federico Valverde.
The Croatian needed three minutes to decide the game. His genius pass canceled out the Celta defense and set Vinicius in a position from which he usually doesn’t miss – the Brazilian didn’t miss. “El Pasa de la Muerte” (the handover of death) is a familiar concept in Spanish football – and that’s exactly what Modric did, who today is perhaps the only one in Real who is able to do it on a regular basis.
In addition to the genius goal, Modric recorded an even greater achievement in the same match when he became the oldest player to wear the Real Madrid shirt in an official match. At the age of 39 and 40 days, he broke the record held by Franz Puskas for almost 60 years. The Hungarian star was 39 years and 36 days old when he last played for Real Madrid in 1966.
Mbappe and Modric. It is not difficult to find the differences, photo: AFP
The thing is that Modric really does not intend to retire. Although he is no longer a team player, he remains the most brilliant football mind that Ancelotti has in the squad, certainly after the retirement of Toni Kroos.
This is the Croatian’s 13th season at Real, and if it is up to him, he will continue for the 14th season as well. Beyond 547 games, 39 goals and 88 assists, Modric is Real’s all-time record holder for titles – 27 in total, including 6 wins in the Champions League. And what Ancelotti said at the end of the game against Celta: “Luca is a fantastic player and continues to be so, even if he is no longer a child. Real Madrid is lucky to have him.”
Kylian Mbappe – Drama King
With the unstoppable missile he fired into the Celta Vigo net on Saturday, Kylian Mbappe also seemed to send a message to the world: you keep on slandering me and I’ll keep answering on the pitch. It’s his eighth goal since the start of the season, more than anyone else on the team, including Vinicius who scored five.
And yet, although the French foreign ministry, along with Ancelotti and the Madrid media, are trying to broadcast business as usual, everything that has happened in the last two weeks is very worrying for Florentino Perez and his people.
Mbapa and Peres. The dream can turn into a headache, photo: x
For the president of the club, the signing of Mbappe was a life mission. He pursued it for years, and although he failed time and time again he did not give up. In the end, of course, he succeeded, and in his dreams and plans Mbappe should be the symbol of Real Madrid for the next decade.
The biggest superstar in the world, after the curtain fell on the careers of Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi. It’s just that the pleasure cruise in Stockholm undermines the foundations of all plans. Even if no criminal offense was committed during 48 hours in the Swedish capital, the stain sticks.
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And beyond that, the fear is that Mbappe is adapting papers and behaviors that Real Madrid, the club that always radiates respectability, will not be able to accept. The big question now is whether Peres will be able to “straighten out” him and make him understand where he is and what is expected of him, or maybe the genie is already out of the bottle and the Frenchman feels that he is bigger than Real Madrid and can afford it. If it turns out that this is indeed the case, the big dramas are probably still ahead of us.
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