Stories from within and beyond: How Real Madrid’s 2022 World Cup went
By Sahel Kazi
The Past and the Future
Many former Real Madrid players caught the eye in Qatar. Most notable of those was Achraf Hakimi, who led the Morocco team to a historic 4th place finish, becoming the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi finals.
Theo Hernandez, now of AC Milan, was fantastic for France in the absence of his brother Lucas. The two full-backs have since been linked with moves back to the Santiago Bernabeu. Raphael Varane too, was an instrumental part of Les Bleus’ success and World Cup hero Kylian Mbappe is starting to be ‘forgiven’ by many sections of the Real Madrid fanbase.
Casemiro scored for Brazil but could only go as far as the last 8, while Gareth Bale’s story with Wales came to an end in the group stages itself.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe crashed out with the Portugal national team, which with the exception of the Switzerland game never seemed capable of going all the way. Rafael Leao continues to do wonders and will undoubtedly catch Real Madrid’s attention very soon, if he has not already. The Bruno Fernandes links were never the most realistic but he was a standout in Qatar.
Josko Gvardiol was perhaps the revelation of the World Cup. The masked Croatian centre-back defended like a warrior all tournament but fell victim to Lionel Messi’s brilliance in the semi-final. Definitely one name to look out for in the months to come as Real Madrid seem to have registered serious interest in his signature.
England’s Jude Bellingham and Germany’s Jamal Musiala will never not be in the conversation for being some of the silkiest young midfielders in the game. The German international broke multiple records for dribbles completed and was the lone positive from what was otherwise another underwhelming World Cup campaign for their national team. On the other hand, the Englishman was the star of the show for the Three Lions against Senegal and looked to be heavily influential as they lost to France. Liverpool are in the race for the Borussia Dortmund man but Real Madrid will look for any opportunity they get to swoop in for him.
Lastly, Enzo Fernandez. Argentina’s number 24 lit it up with his introduction on the world stage. The goal against Mexico brought one of the tournament’s most celebrated young players to the limelight. The Argentine finished as the Young Player of the Tournament, and Carlo Ancelotti seems to have developed a liking for him. He was the player the Italian coach mentioned most in his post-game analysis during the World Cup.