Alvaro Benito: “When the collective isn’t working, the individuals look worse than they are.”

Former Real Madrid youth team player and current pundit Álvaro Benito offered a blunt assessment of Real Madrid’s season following their Champions League elimination at the hands of Arsenal. Speaking on Cadena SER, Benito emphasized that the loss was not an isolated incident, but the culmination of deep-rooted structural issues that plagued the team throughout the campaign.

“You can be eliminated from the Champions League against a team like Arsenal,” Benito admitted. “For me, the worrying thing is the level the team has shown throughout the year. We need to make a more comprehensive assessment, not just of the loss.”

That broader assessment, in Benito’s view, reveals a disjointed and dysfunctional unit. His primary concern was the team’s inability to function collectively. “It wasn’t an organized team, it wasn’t a dedicated team; it was rather chaotic,” he said. “Heroic performances weren’t possible this year—not with just a few moments of dedication.”

The second leg against Arsenal, which sealed Madrid’s exit, was a reflection of the broader problems. “The team applied themselves with very little organization, in a very crazy way,” Benito said. “With a lot of heart, little thought, and little quality.

“When the collective isn’t working, the individuals look worse than they are. There are some very good players at Madrid, but they’ve looked quite a bit worse—and that has to do with the collective not working well. The collective strengthens the individuals and vice versa.”

Benito was also critical of Real Madrid’s preparation and attitude. “Even in the smallest details, this year Madrid has made tremendous errors at the organizational level. It was thought that with the team we had, it was done. But football doesn’t work that way.”

The former midfielder reserved a degree of sympathy for head coach Carlo Ancelotti, whose calm demeanor may have masked deeper frustrations. “From the first minute, I’ve seen him complaining in press conferences—subtly and elegantly—because the team wasn’t working,” Benito noted. “Those up front haven’t worked, and that’s affected everything else. They haven’t been fair to him.

“I get the feeling that life is good with Ancelotti and they haven’t repaid his confidence. He had no other choice but to take the fall—or we’ll see how this ends.”