Marcelo insists his Real Madrid career isn’t over yet, but if it is, he will go down as one of their greats

Above MarceloHis left thigh, just above the knee and hidden until he pulls up his shorts, has a tattoo. The image of the European Cup is imprinted on his skin. Here are four numbers, four years, four historic moments made: 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018. Just space for one more number, which can be helpful as it’s Saturday night Real MadridThe captain’s captain played his last game for the club, and it was yet another European Cup final. One day finally done.

It’s not that he’s feeling the pressure. Oh, wait, that’s right. On Tuesday afternoon, when people told Marcelo he was a guy who never seemed to worry, he replied, “Huh? What? Who told you that?” Then he cracked, giggling again – but this is serious, and so is he. There’s always the demands, and there’s always the pressure, he said, and having been through those finals – won four Champions League title – don’t change that. “That has no weight in a final like this,” he insisted. “Every final we almost have to die on the pitch and this will make no difference. We have to let our souls out there.”

If he is on the pitch, that is. Marcelo begins to resist Espanyol two weeks ago, leading the team that just won LaLigaand against Real Betis on the final weekend, but it was more of a reward than a request: a chance to say goodbye to the Santiago Bernabeu, which stood and gave him a standing ovation when he was introduced and the captain’s armband was lost. slip on hands because of what might have happened last time.

Espanyol has just made their 5th appearance in La Liga this season. He only played 99 minutes in the Champions League, having made three substitutions. It’s not just this season either: in the previous three seasons, his appearances were: 15, 16, 12. When Marcelo turned 34 in May, Isco posted a message on social media wishing him a happy birthday along with a photo of the two of them on the field together. It’s hard to find pictures of us playing, Isco joked.

Santi Solari, Zinedine Zidane, Carlo Ancelotti: all conclude that Marcelo is no longer first choice, sometimes even second. As time has passed, the list of candidates given a chance before him at left-back has been growing: Sergio Reguilon, Miguel Gutierrez, Ferland Mendy. In his absence, others were deployed there instead of him: David Alaba, Nachoeven Eduardo Camavinga. Marcelo’s contribution has dwindled, so has faith in him.

– ESPN+ viewer guide: La Liga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more
– Daily ESPN FC live stream on ESPN+ (US only)
– No ESPN? Instant access

Sometimes, in fact, it’s easy to forget that Marcelo is still there, perhaps even wondering how he’s still there. There was a flaw with him there borne out by the stats. Soon, he will be gone. He may even have gone earlier, but this way his career will end here, in another final.

Or not? Because if others think the day has finally come, then Marcelo is against it. It has not always been easy to control his decline: in a season where Ancelotti has spoken of having no problems in the dressing room, Marcelo has been as close as anyone else. He mostly accepts his role even when he wants more, but it’s not that simple to assimilate and he tries to demand time. It’s worth noting that one of his Champions League appearances was against Chelsea. He came on 3-0 and Madrid went out; it ended 3-2, when Madrid passed.

His contract is coming to an end, with no offer of an extension, but he wants to stay: even with a lower salary, partly peripheral, maybe even partly pastoral, although he wants to. play. This week, he talked about how he would one day sit on the sofa at home and watch these kids play, and think: they’re good. He is also thinking about his role in helping them achieve that.

Just not yet. He halted his departure, or attempted. He feels that the club are ending his time as he is not ready to leave and frankly he is not happy about it. In the Betis game, there is a great moment when Joaquin run into him; Looking at the photo, it could have come any time since 2007. However, after that match, there wasn’t an official breakup, especially because he stubbornly assumed it was a the hand-devide. When asked this week what will happen next, he replied: “Do you know what will happen tomorrow?

“No.”

“Me too. So…”

“Do you have an idea of ​​what you want?”

“Yes. I have a clear idea. I have a clear idea.”

“Is that you want to stay?”

“I’ve said 50,000 times, but you’ll find out.”

Whatever happens, the finals come first. It is his fifth.

In the first game, Marcelo didn’t start – Ancelotti decided Fabio Coentrao was the better choice – but he came on after an hour and scored. “An explosion of joy,” he called it. “I don’t know, it’s inexplicable. A movie that plays in your head since you were a kid, all in five seconds. It’s madness.” In the remaining three games, he plays every minute, scoring in the penalty shootout in Milan 2016. The only player not in training at the start of the week, he will be fit, but possibly, even likely. ability, he didn’t play a minute in Paris.

It might make him a little weird to write him these lines, but if this is the end time, it’s the moment that should be marked. We are talking about the best left-back in the history of Real Madrid.

Now, some of you might be walking through the screen on cue. Some of you might scream: No, we are not. After all, this is the club that has Roberto Carlos. And you might even be right. But the fact is that it can even make cases make cases. Even to be considered alongside Roberto Carlos, the player he has the enormous task of replacing and has somehow succeeded in doing so, speaks volumes for Marcelo’s impact. And back to his feet:

Four European Cups.

That’s more than Roberto Carlos. Marcelo also played more games than Roberto Carlos: 546 to 527. Karim Benzema is the only foreign-born player to have played more games for Madrid. This is Marcelo’s 16th season, and you don’t just have that. (Even the past seasons can sometimes feel that way to those who criticize him.) “I live by the moment and this is one of them: playing years at the best club. world,” he said. There have been 38 goals, 103 assists and countless medals by the winners.

Win on Saturday and Paco Gento will be the only player in the world to have won more European Cups. When it comes to major titles, Marcelo has surpassed Gento – there was a moment of joy not too long ago, a glimpse of Marcelo’s pride, when he and a radio reporter argued over whether the pair were real. class or he is ahead. The club and radio reporter, unlike others, has covered The Small Club World Cup since 1956. Marcelo’s exasperation makes it very clear that he cares about history, heritage. how your own.

Win on Saturday and there won’t be any more arguments. In any case, he has won 24 titles, including six national championships and four European cups. No one in Madrid’s history has more than that. If this is the end, it is a moment that should be marked.

It’s also not just numbers, though they help make a case, outline a legacy. It’s about the way he plays. The same goes for technique and temperament. Feeling that this is something worth enjoying – even though this is a serious business, where pleasure is seen as questionable. Like you’re not allowed to smile, or enjoy it. Marcelo challenged that, he didn’t, and it’s worth celebrating. It doesn’t even look like he’s the classic attacking full-back, flying up the outside. His game is to get inside, touch the ball, his five-man player. It’s fun and different.

Players like him are subject to the close scrutiny that a steady full-back never has to face, as if attacking, creating, is a crime. Another liability, is the line. To that place to be moments, it’s true, are easily plotted and seized, taken down and used as evidence against him.

There’s a lovely quote from his early career when he admits: “I go, I go, I go, and sometimes I forget to come back.” But you have a choice, and for more than a decade at the most demanding club, he was the right choice. You will not achieve what Marcelo has achieved if you are not an exceptional player, someone who always changes the game for the better, over and over again, if you are not serious, well. compete. If you can not defend. Above all, if you can’t playand Marcelo play. You can’t get into games like this, the biggest of them all. Marcelo is about to play the fifth game.

Ancelotti this season has spoken about the value of pessimistic defenders who expect the worst. Marcelo has always been an optimist. Just look at the space he leaves on his feet.