Arsenal trial and self-doubt: Valverde’s journey to Real legend

For years, Fede Valverde has been Real Madrid’s unsung hero. The player who runs for everyone else, the one who fills the gaps.

At the Bernabeu last Wednesday, the 27-year-old midfielder made himself the man who the headlines revolved around as his stunning hat-trick left Manchester City 3-0 down and with an improbable mountain to climb in Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg at the Etihad.

His first career treble – for either Real or Uruguay – ended with an improvised lap of honour and a signed match ball given to his younger son Bautista in the stadium car park as a family photo was taken with both of his children and wife Mina Bonino.

It was a memory that will last a lifetime but one that has been years in the making.

Valverde’s role in the first game against City had been one of manager Alvaro Arbeloa’s most important decisions.

Against Jeremy Doku, he was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s best friend, protecting the right-back without sacrificing his freedom to surge forward. The plan relied on long deliveries from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into the right flank where Valverde could attack the space behind City’s high line.

The first goal came exactly that way. Courtois launched long, Valverde won the duel with Nico O’Reilly, drove into the area and finished. City needed to look after Vinicius, who was mostly anonymous, but instead Madrid broke the game open through Valverde on the other side.

For Arbeloa this performance was not so much a surprise.

In recent weeks the coach has described Valverde as the spiritual epitome of Real Madrid, even comparing him to former player Juan Gomez – Juanito – which, at the Bernabeu, is placing a player on the highest club’s altar.

In his 10 years at Real Madrid, Valverde has made almost 300 appearances and has won 11 major trophies, including two Champions League triumphs.

He grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, in the neighbourhood of La Union.

His father worked as a security guard at a casino. His mother cleaned houses and sometimes sold clothes to help support the family. Money was tight. His first football boots were second-hand, their toes repaired so they would last longer.

One of his youth coaches nicknamed him ‘Pajarito’ (little bird) because as a child he seemed to bounce everywhere with the ball.

His father Julio did not like that analogy too much. He preferred to think of his child as a stronger being and, with that in mind, shaped his mentality.

Support always came from home. His parents were his most loyal fans, along with his three older brothers.

“I saw them working all the time,” Valverde once said. “It was tough. My parents did everything so I could play football.”

His mother Doris was the emotional centre of the family, organising his first trial with Penarol. He eventually left school early to pursue the game, finishing primary education but not secondary school. The decision had been taken by all the family.

In training he was quiet and shy. In fact, the tireless runner he is today did not always exist. As a teenager Valverde disliked running. He believed talent would be enough.

“I thought I had Maradona’s qualities,” he later admitted. Then one day a youth coach substituted him because he wasn’t tracking back. Valverde changed.

Before Real Madrid appeared there was another possibility. At 16, he spent a week training with Arsenal’s first team in London.

For a teenager from Montevideo it felt surreal: the facilities, the Premier League stars, the scale of everything.

He didn’t speak English, so Emiliano Martínez, then a young Arsenal goalkeeper, helped translate instructions and explain the drills. He thought he had found his club, his place in the world. But he did not convince Arsenal.

Valverde, drying his tears after losing the final of that competition, heard what they had to say.

His mum pushed for the move despite the fact the Penarol chairman wanted him to stay for a while to develop. It was the move the whole family had been waiting for.

Moving to Madrid brought another shock. One day in the dressing room of Castilla [Real Madrid B], Valverde looked around and saw Gucci belts, designer wallets and expensive watches. Then he looked at himself. A cheap T-shirt.

“That’s when I realised,” he later said, “that here I was nobody.”

After a season with Castilla he was loaned to Deportivo La Coruna. The year in Galicia proved crucial. There he learned how to live alone and cope with criticism, and grew as both a footballer and a person.

There were setbacks along the way. Being left out of Uruguay’s 2018 World Cup squad was one of the hardest blows of his career. He remembers returning home feeling ashamed, believing he had let down his family and friends.

Even his early months at Real Madrid were shaped by doubt. The fear of making mistakes made him hesitate.

The person who helped him through that moment was his then partner, Mina Bonino. “If you’re at Real Madrid it’s for a reason,” she told him. “Stop hiding. Enjoy football like you did when you were a child.”

In the 2021-22 season, he played a decisive role in Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph.

Around the same time, he and Mina were expecting their second child. What should have been a joyful moment turned into a nightmare when doctors warned the pregnancy was at serious risk and the baby might not survive.

Valverde withdrew emotionally, struggling with the confusion of the moment. Showing strength in public and struggling in private.

Weeks later the scans improved. Their son Bautista was eventually born healthy in June 2023.

Under Xabi Alonso there were periods when Valverde struggled to find his natural place in the team.

At times he was used in unfamiliar roles, including right-back. On one occasion he admitted his frustration publicly. “I wasn’t born to be a right-back,” Valverde said in a news conference.

For a time it felt as if Valverde was more focused on recovering his natural midfield role than embracing the responsibility that comes with being one of Real Madrid’s captains.