It has been a challenging season for Real Madrid, but the past week has been particularly tumultuous for the club. Antonio Rudiger clashed with Alvaro Carreras earlier in the week, while on Thursday, Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde also came to blows, resulting in the latter being hospitalized.
These incidents marked the boiling point for a dressing room that has grown increasingly fractured over recent months. At the center of the discord is club captain Dani Carvajal, who has been benched by head coach Alvaro Arbeloa in recent weeks, raising growing questions about the veteran defender’s standing.
Specifically, his leadership abilities have come under scrutiny. His failure to prevent the aforementioned conflicts, combined with Real Madrid’s dip in performances on the biggest stages, has led some within the squad to push for a new captaincy system, according to Diario AS.
For years, Real Madrid have determined their captains based on seniority—i.e., who has been at the club the longest. Carvajal took over the role from Luka Modric last summer, and as things stand, he will be succeeded by Valverde when he moves on, likely at the end of the current season.
Real Madrid players want to follow the Barcelona model.
Many within the dressing room want the Real Madrid captaincy group to be decided democratically, similar to how El Clasico rivals Barcelona handle their selections. Barcelona uses a hybrid system that also takes seniority into account, which is why Ronald Araujo is their current skipper.
It is clear that significant changes are needed at Real Madrid, and this could be one of them. The decision over a change of captaincy system will ultimately fall to Florentino Perez and the club’s board, and it remains to be seen whether they deem a new approach necessary.