Álvaro Arbeloa will sit on the away bench at the Etihad for the first time today, the home of Manchester City. A place and a rival that have defined the fate of Real Madrid coaches in recent years. It's where Zidane fell in the 2020 round of 16, where Carlo Ancelotti experienced both glory in 2022, 2024, and 2025, and drama in the 4-0 defeat in 2023 that put him on the edge. Xabi Alonso also faced City, albeit at the Bernabéu, and was sentenced in early December. While all this was happening, Arbeloa was forging his own path in Valdebebas, surrounded by the young players who now excite the fans. It is to those fields of the sports city, and even those before, that one must now travel to understand his DNA in the best week for Madrid in a long time.
"Álvaro understood us. He is the coach who has influenced me the most," says Marc Cucalón to this newspaper, from the 2004 generation, one of the great promises of La Fábrica and now retired after a serious knee injury. Raised alongside Nico Paz, Gonzalo, or Manuel Ángel, he was the first captain of the Juvenil A team led by Arbeloa between 2022 and 2025.
"When I had the injury in 2022, he was the first one there for me, he came to the hospital when the operation got complicated and stayed by my side," he recalls. "With him, it's like being part of a family. He will always stand up for you, especially when things go wrong," admits Cucalón.
This is something that has been seen in the first two months of Arbeloa at the helm of Madrid. The coach has wanted, and has managed, to win over the dressing room through praise, sometimes even excessive. "He transmits that affection so you see that he stands up for you," adds Cucalón. This approach has brought out the best in players who were far from their best level under Alonso, such as Vinicius or Valverde. The case of the Brazilian has been the most striking. Arbeloa has been persistent in praise in press conferences and in the details on the field, focusing on his emotional recovery. First the mindset, then the tactics.
"By transmitting that affection, he manages to keep you very engaged. He is very approachable, and having been in great dressing rooms, he knows how to deal with all types of players," says Cucalón.
And from there, the tactics. "He wants a team that has possession and gives you just the right instructions. He makes everything easy for you. He would tell me where to be, and the ball always arrived where he said. Between him and Juli Carmona, who was with him on the staff, they paid attention to every detail."
That youth team ended up winning the league and the cup, making the Valdebebas management highlight several names from that generation, such as Nico Paz and Jacobo Ramón, both at Cesc Fàbregas' Como; Chema Andrés, now at Stuttgart; Yusi, at Alavés; or three of the players now in Arbeloa's first team: Manuel Ángel, Palacios, and Gonzalo, all from the 2004 cohort.
It is no coincidence, therefore, that those names are now appearing in the first team. Because if we look back, on Arbeloa's journey in Valdebebas, we find more coincidences. In his debut in the academy with the Infantil A team in the autumn of 2021, he coached, among others, Dani Yáñez and Diego Aguado, whom he gave the opportunity to play for half an hour against Elche last Saturday at the Bernabéu.
"Álvaro is the one who best understands everything that the academy players go through. He has coached many, most far from their families, alone... and he has always given us a lot of support and advice, and also the space when needed. It's the way to keep us engaged," reflects Cucalón.
And yet, the Infantil A team was not the first bench where Arbeloa sat, although the records do not acknowledge it. It was the Mambo, a team of YouTubers created for a series that the Real Madrid coach led for a few months in 2018, before becoming an ambassador for the club and then a coach. A fiction with real undertones where some virtues of the future coach were already evident. "Mambo was fiction and he was like the boss. Everything was scripted, but in the games, he said real things. He simplified football for us a lot. He spoke very well and had a lot of emotional intelligence. He saw football in a simple way. I always thought that with his personality, he would go far," says Toniemcee, content creator and one of the founders of the team.