Real Madrid not worried about the “Tenerife curse” on final match day in Malaga
By Ben Sundock
As Real Madrid prepare for their final match of the La Liga campaign, Zinedine Zidane and his team will have the not so recent memory of the “Tenerife disaster” in the back of their minds. Ben Sundock tells you about the curse of Tenerife, and how Real Madrid can avoid it Sunday night in Malaga.
In June 1993, Real Madrid made the long trek down to the largest island in the Canary’s to face Tenerife FC, for the second year in a row on the final match day of the season. Both times Real flew to Tenerife with the La Liga title all but locked up, just needing a win to lift the trophy.
Both times, they failed miserably, losing 2-0 in June of 1992, and 3-2 the following June. Both seasons, Real saw their arch rivals FC Barcelona raise the league trophy instead of them.
This year, is so shockingly similar to the scenario Real faced almost 25 years ago, Marca did a full page spread in their Friday newspaper.
The Tenerife manager at the time was Jorge Valdano, a former Madridista player, said after the second consecutive season beating Real on the final day, he “didn’t know what face to wear.”
One of Real’s most dejected players following the 1993 final match day collapse, was Michel Gonzalez. One of the most iconic pictures from the match shows a devastated Michel talking to a Tenerife player as he leaves the field. And just like Jorge Valdano was not sure how to feel after beating his former team, Michel will feel the same way as he coaches Malaga in their final home match Sunday.
This has led many to question Michel’s intentions with his team for tomorrow’s match. Will he try to back off and give Real Madrid the win and the title, since he was unable to win it himself 24 years ago?
But, despite the threat of the “Tenerife curse” bearing down on them, Zinedine Zidane and his men, are not worried about what happened on that damned island 24 years ago. This years team are different in several ways.
Next: At Malaga, Real Madrid’s past could come back to haunt them
This Real Madrid side has performed much better than the team of ’92/’93 on the road, and those teams didn’t have a go-to scorer like Cristiano Ronaldo, who is in vintage CR7 form, having scored 13 goals in his last 8 matches.
Ronaldo has also rested the most games in his career this season (injuries aside) missing 14 matches. But, this has paid off for Zidane as Ronaldo is in top condition for this match tomorrow night.
While the “Tenerife Curse” looms over the heads of Real Madrid fans, past and present, don’t be looking into it too much, as this Madrid team is much, much better than the teams of 1991-1992 and 1992-1993.
This Los Blancos team has played plenty of pressure filled matches this season, and Sunday should be no different. The team has been calling every match since the start of April a “final” meaning that every game is equally as important and pressure filled.