Soccer Slant

As a player, Bernd Schuster was a veritable tour-de-force of power, grace, and intelligence. He burst onto the scene in the 1980 European Championship in Italy, where he led Germany to the title and was named player of the tournament aged 20. That summer he signed for FC Barcelona, thus initiating what would be a long, turbulent, and brilliant career in Spanish Football. His impact on the Spanish game was tremendous, and the memory of Schuster’s flowing blonde locks, spraying passes in every direction and authoritatively bossing midfields, is embedded in the minds of any fan who watched him play. Without a doubt, his abrupt retirement from international play at 23 causes him to be overlooked in the pantheon of all-time greats, but those who were fortunate enough to watch him know how good he really was. For Madrid fans in particular, the memory of Schuster meshing in perfectly with the legendary Quinta del Buitre side and leading the team to an astonishing record of 107 goals scored in 38 games—well, that memory will always be present, ready to draw a smile in the most arbitrary of times.

Nevertheless, his time as a player also showed us the negative side of Bernd Schuster. Always ultra-competitive, his abrasive personality got him into trouble with almost every manager he had. The embodiment of this came in the 1986 European Cup final between Barca and Steaua Bucharest at the Ramón Sanchez Pizjuán stadium in Seville. Schuster already maintained a tense relationship with Manager Terry Venables throughout the season, as Schuster’s lofty opinion of himself clashed with Venables’ desire to impose his own stamp on the team’s success. The clash of egos finally exploded when Venables substituted Schuster—the team’s unquestioned leader, best player, and, most importantly, best penalty taker—in the 86^th minute of a 0-0 match that seemed destined to be decided by penalties. Schuster stormed out of the stadium before the match was over without speaking to anyone, and took a taxi back to the team’s hotel. Barca ended up losing that match in a penalty shootout, missing every single penalty they took.

These two faces of Bernd Schuster marked his time as a player. He was a fierce competitor who was always at his best in the most crucial moments, and his charisma allowed him to be a leader amongst his fellow teammates, who generally viewed him with respect. Nevertheless he clearly had problems dealing with his superiors, who feared Schuster’s powerful influence. Moreover, his penchant for controversial remarks troubled his club’s officials. He left both Barca and Real Madrid prematurely after getting into fights with Josep Lluis Nuñez and Ramón Mendoza, respectively, the clubs’ presidents during the time Schuster was there. His character, which was so important for his great success on the field, caused him to end his careers on the German National Team, FC Barcelona, and Real Madrid in bitterness.

This same dichotomy exists in Bernd Schuster the manager, and it has been magnified in the unbearable pressure cooker that is Real Madrid. He has a real talent to manage players with dexterity and tactical innovation, but combines that with an abrasive personality that has gotten him into problems with the management and, probably more importantly, the press. The curious role of the press in Spanish football is a topic of discussion in and of itself, but suffice to say that they can make a player’s, a manager’s, or even a club president’s life a living hell.

It all started, as these things always do, with an idyllic honeymoon period. At first everyone was enamored with Schuster. They appreciated his non-conventional press conferences, his ironic tone, his brio, and his desire to implement an attacking style of play. The early results were impressive, with notable wins against Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal. The team looked unstoppable and it seemed like Schuster could do no wrong. The first signs of trouble, however, began to trickle through. Rumors of a rift with the club’s sporting director, Pedrag Mijatovic, began to intensify. Mijatovic had blocked Schuster’s signing in favor of Fabio Capello a year earlier and the Montenegrin certainly felt like the president Ramón Calderon had over stepped his bounds by overruling his decision-making.

Nevertheless the results kept coming, and Madrid was on pace for a record setting year. The team never achieved celestial heights in terms of actual game play, but its effectiveness was absolutely devastating. In this, Schuster’s hand is evident. The team’s success has rested largely on the understanding and clinical finishing of its three forwards, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robinho, and Raúl. While the first’s success is hardly surprising given his tremendous season the year before when he led the league in scoring, carrying Madrid to its first league title in 4 years, the other two are players that came into the season with several question marks around their play.

Robinho was signed 2 seasons ago for a massive fee and with the difficult label of ¨The Next Pelé¨. His stunning debut in Cadiz left everyone awestruck, but after that he drowned himself in a sea of doubts, step-overs, and distractions. His play was largely intermittent, and it seemed like he was unable to provide significant weight to an attack. Nevertheless, Schuster maintained confidence in him from the very first day, when everyone else seemed to doubt him. A pivotal moment came after Brazil’s 5-0 victory over Ecuador in October, 2007. After the match, the players celebrated at a local nightclub in Rio de Janeiro, and it was reported that Robinho purchased 40 condoms at 5am, something that did not sit well with the club after he missed his subsequent flight and reported late to Schuster’s orders. The controversy was remarkable, and, as the majority of the press and the fans cried for blood, it seemed like the final nail in the coffin in Robinho’s career at Real Madrid; but Schuster’s handling of the situation was simply masterful. Instead of increasing the scandal by imposing a stern fine, he isolated Robinho from the ruckus, gave him an important vote of confidence, and even handed him the start in the next match. Robinho’s response was immediate, he elevated his play several levels to the point where he could be considered world-class, and hasn’t looked back since. His scoring touch and his dynamic ability to beat his marker by cutting inside or out to combine with his forward partners have been essential for the team’s attack.

Raúl’s case is a similar one. The Real Madrid legend has borne the brunt of criticism for several seasons, as his scoring output has been inferior to what many fans had become accustomed to. After the sensationalistic signing of Javier Saviola from bitter rivals FC Barcelona (Schuster’s only personal request in the offseason), it seemed like Raúl was going to find it difficult to make it into the starting eleven. With a keen eye, Schuster saw that Raúl was far from finished, but was actually playing in a situation that didn’t suit his characteristics. He put Raúl back in his old stomping ground: close to the opponent’s goal posts. Raúl has responded to Schuster’s confidence with goals, and very important ones at that. This season is his best since the 2000/2001 campaign, when he won the Pichichi title with 24 goals. Under Schuster, Raúl has emerged as the undisputed leader of the squad and has lifted the team during its darkest moments. After spending years in the doldrums, Raúl finally looks like his former self.

Despite these achievements, and the team’s record-breaking results in the first half of the season, the press began to get on Schuster’s back. Perhaps it is a tactic to take the pressure off of his players and keep the focus on him, but Schuster’s antics in the pressrooms around the country push the lines of acceptable behavior and sometimes overstep them. He’s been difficult with the reporters, and his comments about the referees have gotten him into trouble. After he felt slighted by some of Álvarez Izquierdo’s calls in a 2-0 loss to Sevilla, Schuster insinuated that the referee’s Catalan origin caused him to be biased against Real Madrid. In a country where the pluralistic nature of its people remains a contentious issue, this did not sit well at all. Recently, after a difficult victory against Recreativo de Huelva, Schuster abruptly left a press conference early when he didn’t like one of the reporter’s questions. This came shortly after the management had urged him to be more amicable to the press, and it has caused a sort of distancing between the management and the training staff. With the team’s results leaving much to be desired after the Christmas break, the pressure on the manager has increased tremendously, and there have even been rumors about possible replacements.

All in all, his body of work, not his personality, must ultimately judge a manager. As of now, the team is sitting comfortably in first place, despite injuries to key players like Robinho, Sneijder, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Pepe, and Heinze. The failure to progress pass the first knockout stage in the Champions League was a difficult one to swallow for most Madrid fans, but in the end, if the team manages to hold on to its lead and win the league title for the second year in a row for the first time since Bernd Schuster was a player, his performance will be seen as a success. He has all the inklings to be a great manager: personality, good understanding of his players, and tactical sophistication. Whether his penchant for controversy is his own Achilles’ heel remains to be seen.

–by Fernando Rodriguez-Vila