Endrick’s worst moments at Real Madrid

Lessons come during development, at every level, in football and in life. Since Endrick arrived at Real Madrid, it has been a constant learning process for a young man who landed just after turning 18. That does not mean everything has been positive. We will never know whether what he has experienced over the past six months will prove useful in the future, but the reality is that the young, daring striker has faced extreme situations, some of them impossible for him to understand.

The first blow came with the injury he suffered at the end of last season, but even harder was aggravating it in the United States during training on the penultimate day of the Club World Cup. That setback meant starting the season behind the rest of the squad and, on top of that, seeing doors close on potential transfers, including the late move to Lyon that collapsed in the final hours.

The worst moment came when he realised that, match after match, it was not just that he was outside Xabi Alonso’s plans, but that he was not even warming up on the touchline. His only role was to watch his teammates play. He could find no explanation for what was happening. That was when the group came together and the chant was born: “Bobby can’t fall.” That is how the striker is known in the dressing room, and alongside his teammates, those who wear white, they sparked a reaction in a player who, upon leaving, made it clear that he intended to return and succeed. The story is not over.

The first week of December marked a turning point. It has been said that his priority was to play in order to qualify for the World Cup. In reality, Endrick has always wanted to be useful to Real Madrid, but he felt that opportunity was being denied to him. He remains convinced that, with regular minutes, the story would have been very different.

The loneliness of the bench and the lack of playing time eventually led him to accept the French offer and search for what he could not find under Xabi Alonso: confidence, expressed through minutes on the pitch. What neither he nor many at Real Madrid could fully understand was that, when everything was already finalised, the coach suddenly turned back to the Brazilian, whose appearances showed that he had not forgotten how to play football.