Bring it on

One aspect that I was particularly impressed with when analysing Madrid's performance was their composure and ability to remain calm under pressure. Yes, this Madrid team had the club history and records behind them. Yes, in the previous matches they have produced some astonishing comebacks. However, once the match starts I am not sure how much the players think about such things. I would rather argue that they need to stay in the present and focus on the task at hand, and this was something that particularly impressed me.

In the first 16 minutes of the first half, we could observe complete dominance from the Liverpool team. From the first minute, they demonstrated outstanding energy in their press, preventing Madrid to build their attacks from the back. Indeed, Madrid was often forced to look for long passes as a means of progressing up the pitch. The intensity of Liverpool's press also resulted in them often regaining possession in Madrid’s half, ensuring that majority of the first half was played in Madrid's defensive third.

It is here where I was particularly impressed with Tony Cross, who despite Liverpool’s dominance constantly looked to get on the ball and initiate Madrid’s attacks. The same can be said about Luka Modric, who from the 18th minute started to drop deeper to also get on the ball more.

In the second half, Modric continued to play a key role in Madrid’s positional attacks, dropping deep, identifying pockets of space, getting on the ball, and completing forward passes. As a result, at the start of the second half, Madrid started to enjoy more success in their positional play. Indeed, they started to progress through the third much easier and performed fewer long-range passes, compared to the first half. Such a shift in the style of play played a key role in Madrid’s goal in this game. Indeed, it was Modric positioning and desire to get on the ball that forced Andy Robertson to come out of his zone and press the Croatian playmaker. It was Modric that started a move that forced Virgil out wide leaving Liverpool’s defense vulnerable. It was Modric composure and an ability to stay calm under pressure that eventually lead Madrid into creating a 4v4 situation in the opposition box and scoring a match-winning goal!

While after the first 15 minutes of the final it would be easy to hide. While it would be easy to accept the dominance of the rival. While it would be easy to keep playing long and trying to survive, Madrid’s players rose to a challenge. In particular, Modric showed an incredible level of courage to take on the responsibility and attempt to solve the problems that the team was facing!

IT COMES WITH EXPERIENCE

While I am sceptical in believing that Madrid’s history in the Champions League played a major role in the club's success in the 2021/2022 season, I am convinced that the experience of some of the players in a white shirt was crucial. In particular, I would like to discuss here the concept of emotional control (or: emotional regulation), which refers to all conscious and non-conscious regulatory strategies by which physiological, behavioural, or subjective components of emotional response are altered or controlled. Here, I will present emotional regulation as a set of decisions about actions that players need to take to achieve a desired emotional state. Also, I would argue that in players with a significant level of experience (e.g., Modric, Kroos), emotional regulatory actions occur consciously rather than non-consciously. More specifically, I will present how experienced and self-aware players continuously monitor and adjust their emotional control strategies to achieve a desired emotional state. From such a perspective, I will characterise emotional control as a dynamic conceptualisation of optimal actions. Also, I will highlight the significance of learning and prior knowledge.

The experiences of some of Madrid’s players are truly astonishing. For example, since joining the club in the 2012/2013 season, Modric played in five Champions League finals and a World Cup final with Croatia. Such experiences, therefore, may play a key role in players learning and optimisation of situational actions. When it comes to emotional regulation, players can either use delayed reward signals that are being presented to them after an event (i.e., following a match) or immediate reward/ punishment (i.e., emotions experienced after passing the ball). Such explorations and evaluations of emotion, in turn, always result in either positive (encouragement) or negative (disappointment) feedback. Therefore, players can continually evaluate the discrepancy between the expected and actual emotional state. Also, they can assess if the chosen emotional control strategy did or did not result in the desired emotional outcome.

EMOTIONAL CONTROL STRATEGIES

One of the key emotional control strategies that players can evaluate is reappraisal, which targets the appraisal stage and involves changing one’s interpretation of the stimuli. In other words, cognitive reappraisal is a skill where players recognise the negative pattern that their thoughts have fallen into and find a way of changing that pattern into one that is more helpful and positive. Therefore, once able to change their thoughts, players are then able to change their emotions. As such, this strategy can be especially helpful in creating more positive and meaningful perceptions of an event or situation.

It is here, that I want to suggest that based on experiences, Modric learned how to effectively control his emotions and potentially engage effectively in a reappraisal process. More specifically, when faced with significance pressure from Liverpool players and dominating in the first 20 minutes of the final in Paris, Modric could easily experience a range of negative emotions (e.g., fear of failure). Such appraisal of match situations, in turn, could potentially lead to avoidance behaviours and shying away from the responsibility. However, analysis of the match demonstrated that Liverpool’s dominance was perceived by Modric as a source of motivation. Indeed, it was clear that after the first 20 minutes, Modric recognised the challenges posed by the opposition and took greater responsibility for Madrid’s build-up play. Therefore, it can be assumed throughout his career, Modric learned how to consciously manage emotional control strategies (e.g., reappraisal) to achieve a desirable emotional state and ultimately highperformance levels.

YOU CAN DO IT!

The objective of the present article was to evaluate Real Madrid's performance in the 2021/2022 Champions League final. In doing so, I paid significant attention to Luka Modric as a player who had a significant impact on the game. By focusing on Modric I also aspired to enhance readers understanding of emotional control strategies and their importance in high performance. Therefore, I hope that this article will encourage readers to pay greater attention to the way they appraise match situations and help them achieve desirable emotional states in matches.